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Friday, January 17, 2025
Murdered Baby Related to HPD Deputy Chief, DHS Investigator
By News Release @ 1:15 PM :: 1407 Views :: Honolulu County, Family, Hawaii History, Police

Murdered Baby Related to HPD Deputy Chief, DHS Investigator

Star-Adv Jan 17, 2025: 

… On June 29, 2014, the homeowners discovered a box of human bones while clearing out the Waikiki apartment they had inherited from their deceased parents, and turned it over to police, the staff person at the Medical Examiner’s Office said.  The father died in 1973, and the mother in 2006….

A birth announcement published May 8, 1959, in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reveals Baby Mary Fink’s address and who her parents were: “Mr. and Mrs. Lee R. Fink, 1849-A Kaioo Drive, daughter, April 29.”….

What remains a mystery is who killed Mary Sue Fink.

It is unclear whether police ever opened an investigation into the disappearance or death of the child back in the 1960s.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office identified the mother of Baby Mary Fink as Josephine S. Vanic, who died at age 67 on Oct. 5, 2006, from a heart attack due to natural causes.

Vanic, previously Josephine Pagud, a well-known Hawaii TV personality in the 1970s, was driving her Mazda van on Farrington Highway when it somehow got onto the Kapolei Golf Course, traveled 200 yards before plunging into a pond next to the first hole, the Honolulu Advertiser reported.

Vanic, “who gained fame in the early 1970s as the rotund marshal who pitched appliances and furniture for the old Consumer City store,” appeared in TV and newspaper ads wearing a cowboy hat and gun belt. She appeared in TV shows including “Hawaii Five-O.”

She later worked in the investigation office for the state Department of Human Services and retired in 2003.

Her last residence was in Kapolei.

It’s unclear who lived in unit A of 1849 Kaioo Drive, a two-story Waikiki walk-up in 2014 at the time of the discovery of the can of bones. The owners, who inherited the property from their parents, were cleaning it out and the tenants were relatives.

Honolulu property tax information shows the entire apartment building is now owned by a company.

Vanic’s obituary identifies one of her survivors as son Rade Vanic, now HPD deputy chief. She is also survived by two daughters.

The child’s father died in 1973.

The couple divorced five months after Mary Sue Fink’s birth.

An Oct. 7, 1959, announcement in the Honolulu Star- Bulletin says Josephine S. Fink was granted a divorce from Leroy Fink Jr. “for mental suffering.”

Deputy Chief Vanic has not returned a call to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser for a request for an interview….

read … Young child’s remains identified 60 years later, but killer unknown | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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New details emerge in Honolulu cold case

KHON Jan 15, 2025: … The remains, initially found on June 29, 2014, were discovered wrapped in old newspaper and stored in a 7-10 gallon steel can in a closet of an apartment being cleaned. The Honolulu Police Department (HPD) and the Department of the Medical Examiner responded to the scene, but it wasn’t until a detailed investigation that the grim reality of the situation began to unfold.

The remains were first classified as a miscellaneous public case, but further examination by the Medical Examiner revealed that the bones were wrapped in newspaper dating back to the 1960s. As investigators delved deeper into the case, they learned that the child may have had three siblings, who were in their 50s at the time.…

Family members recalled that the victim, a girl around 2 or 3 years old, had been given to an “Aunty” years earlier and had been missing since.

After reviewing family documents, authorities tentatively identified the child as Mary Sue Fink, born April 29, 1959….

By 2024, the DNA comparison confirmed the remains were indeed those of Mary Sue Fink.

The cause of death was found to be blunt force trauma, with fractures indicating the fatal injuries occurred shortly before her death. Further investigation also revealed signs of past abuse, with earlier injuries in various stages of healing.

HPD has reclassified the case to second-degree murder, though no arrests have been made.

Homicide detectives now believe Fink was murdered sometime between 1961 and 1963, when she was just a child. Authorities continue to seek any information about her death and ask anyone with relevant details to contact HPD or Crimestoppers.

read … New details emerge in Honolulu cold case | KHON2

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Honolulu Department of the Medical Examiner and Honolulu Police Department Team with Othram to Identify a 2014 Jane Doe

A young girl, whose remains were discovered in Honolulu, Hawaii in 2014, has been identified as Mary Sue Fink, born April 29, 1959.

News Release from DNASolves.com Dec 26, 2024

In June 2014, the skeletal remains of a young child were found in Honolulu, Hawaii. The remains were transferred to the Honolulu Department of the Medical Examiner’s office for examination. It was determined that the skeletal remains were that of a young female, approximately 33-35 inches tall, and between the ages of 2 and 6 years old. Details of the case were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) as UP57800.

In August 2024, the Honolulu Department of the Medical Examiner, working with the Honolulu Police Department, submitted evidence to Othram's laboratory in The Woodlands, Texas to determine if advanced DNA testing could help to identify the child. Othram scientists were able to develop a DNA extract from the evidence so that a DNA profile could be built for the young girl using Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing®. During the course of the investigation, a possible relative of the young girl was identified. The DNA profile of the potential relative was compared to the unknown girl’s DNA profile using KinSNP® Rapid Relationship Testing. This led to the positive identification of the young girl, who is now known to be Mary Sue Fink. Mary Sue was born April 29, 1959, more than 65 years ago.

This case was worked as part of Othram's Project 525 initiative. Project 525, launched on May 23, 2024, in collaboration with RTI, which manages the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), aims to bring resolution to five hundred twenty-five juvenile cases published in NamUs. Funding for Othram's casework costs associated with the advanced DNA testing in this case was provided by NamUs, a national clearinghouse that assists the criminal justice community with the investigation and resolution of missing, unidentified, and unclaimed persons cases across the United States and its territories. NamUs is funded and administered by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and is managed through a contract with Research Triangle Institute International. We are grateful for the support of RTI, NamUs, and the NIJ.

The identification of Mary Sue Fink represents the second case in the State of Hawaii where officials have publicly identified an individual using technology developed by Othram. Visit DNASolves to learn about other cases in Hawaii and beyond.

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SFG: Hawaii girl found in a metal box finally identified  --  Mary Sue Fink was born in Honolulu on April 29, 1959. ... A birth announcement in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin lists her parents as Mr. and Mrs. Lee R. Fink of Kaioo Drive. She was the second daughter born to the family; a year prior, in May 1958, a birth announcement ran for another daughter. … It’s not clear how Mary died or whether she met her end due to foul play. A now-archived page on the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System site said the remains were discovered on the premises of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. 

KHON: DNA evidence identifies victim in HPD cold case

NYP: Remains of missing girl identified a decade after bones found in Hawaii

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