This photo provided by the Honolulu Police Department shows 16-year-old student Dawn Momohara who was discovered dead on the second floor of a building at McKinley High School on March 21, 1977, in Honolulu. (Honolulu Police Department)

Extradition to Hawaii ordered in 1977 murder case

Authorities arrested Gideon Castro at a Utah nursing home and charged him in the murder of 16-year-old Dawn Momohara on her high school campus in Honolulu in 1977.

by Sam Ribakoff, Court House News, February 26, 2025

(CN) — A 66-year-old Utah man agreed Wednesday to be extradited to Hawaii to face charges in the murder of a 16-year-old high school sophomore on her school campus in 1977. 

Appearing remotely from custody and in a gurney, Gideon Castro muttered a few single-syllable affirmative replies to 3rd District Court Criminal Commissioner Todd Olsen's questions about whether he understood what waiving his rights meant. 

Castro has a host of medical problems, including severe sepsis, paralysis on the left side of his body, acute respiratory failure, a history of sudden cardiac arrest, diabetes, heart failure, chronic kidney disease, mild dementia, hallucinations and other health problems, said Marlene Mohn, an attorney that handles first appearances from Salt Lake City Defenders who served as Castro’s attorney.

Because of those health problems, Mohn said she was concerned whether Castro could be medically cleared to fly from Utah to Hawaii.   

“He’s going to need a lot of care for his transport,” she said. 

A detective who handles extradition cases said that as far as he understands, Hawaii officials said a full-time care worker will be provided for Castro.  

“Mr. Castro, what’s going to happen next is that there will be a process state in motion for the state of Hawaii to come pick you up,” Olsen said.

Olsen set a review date for March 12 if Castro hasn’t been extradited to Hawaii by then.  

In January, law enforcement officers in Utah arrested Castro at a nursing home in connection to the murder of Dawn Momohara in Honolulu some 48 years ago. 

Police discovered Momohara’s partially clothed body on the morning of March 21, 1977, at McKinley High School in Honolulu. A medical examiner determined Momohara had injuries consistent with sexual assault. 

A week later, investigators talked to Castro and his brother. Gideon said he had seen Momohara at a school dance a year prior. Authorities said Castro graduated from the same school in 1976.

The case was reopened in 2019. In 2020 a DNA profile was extracted from Momohara’s shorts. Investigators had one of Castro’s children submit DNA, which authorities say linked Castro to Momohara’s murder. Detectives then got a DNA sample from Gideon Castro himself, which they say matched the same DNA profile from Momohara's shorts.