Brown reindicted for murder of ex-girlfriend
A Maui County grand jury on Friday reindicted Bernard Brown, once again charging him with second-degree murder in connection with the disappearance of his former girlfriend nearly seven years ago.
The 49-year-old Brown continues to be held at Maui Community Correctional Center on $1 million bail, Acting Maui County Prosecutor Robert Rivera confirmed Friday afternoon.
Brown was quickly recharged in the case after a previous indictment against him was dismissed without prejudice on Dec. 3.
At that time, Second Circuit Judge Peter Cahill set a two-month time limit, or until Feb. 3, to recharge Brown.
Brown’s attorney Keith Shigetomi had said earlier this month that Brown would be released from jail if the prosecution didn’t recharge him within 60 days.
Brown had initially been a person of interest in the disappearance of his former girlfriend Moreira “Mo” Monsalve, a 46year-old mother of three.
Family members, friends and co-workers described a “volatile relationship” between Brown and Monsalve, who had
moved out of his apartment at Iao Parkside in Wailuku less than two weeks before she was last seen there the night of Jan. 12, 2014.
Police said that on that day, Monsalve dropped her daughter off at Kahului Airport around 4 p.m. and was at Brown’s apartment.
Two days later, after Monsalve hadn’t shown up for work or responded to phone calls, her daughter, Alexis Felicilda, reported Monsalve missing. On Jan. 16, 2014, some of Monsalve’s personal belongings, including her purse and broken cellphone, were found in a trash bin near the Velma McWayne Santos Community Center in Wailuku.
The cellphone was sent to the FBI, which put it back together so the Maui Police Cyber Crimes Unit could gather evidence that helped lead to Brown’s indictment by a Maui County grand jury on Sept. 20, 2019, police said.
Brown, who had moved to California, was taken into custody the same day by the FBI Violent Crime Task Force and the Sacramento Police Department before being extradited to Maui.
In a motion filed in July seeking to dismiss the indictment, Shigetomi said there was insufficient evidence at the time presented to the grand jury, excessive use of hearsay and an unfair grand jury proceeding.
Shigetomi said that the strongest point was that the grand jury proceeding in 2014 was unfair, in part because one of the grand jurors was related to Felicilda, who was a witness.
Shigetomi added that an independent grand jury counsel provided more of a directive than was proper in responding to a juror’s question about how the prosecution arrived at the charge without specific testimony about what happened.
After the dismissal earlier this month, Shigetomi said he felt the court was correct in its decision.
He could not be immediately reached for comment Friday evening.