Man arrested in Salt Lake stabbing death of wife — (Hawaii News Now)

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Hawaii News Now

Monday, January 18th 2016, 12:52 pm EDTTuesday, January 19th 2016, 1:42 pm EDT

By Lisa Kubota, Anchor / Reporter

Police investigate an unattended death in Salt Lake

SALT LAKE, OAHU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Police arrested a 65-year-old man Monday after his wife was found fatally stabbed in their Salt Lake home. Police were called to the home on Wanaka Street about 5:30 a.m., and found the woman, also 65, with multiple stab wounds. The suspect also had several stab wounds and was taken to a hospital in critical condition. He has since been upgraded, and is expected survive.

Sources told Hawaii News Now that detectives are investigating the case as a murder-attempted suicide. The suspect has been arrested for second-degree murder.

Several relatives were at home at the time of the stabbing, and said the suspect may have suffered from mental health problems.

Family members say Isagani “Sonny” Fajotina and his wife, Melita, moved to Hawaii from the Philippines and had been married for 35 years.

News of the fatal stabbing stunned their relatives.

“We’re shocked. Everybody shocked,” Lilia Fajotina, the suspect’s sister-in-law. “When my sister-in-law called me this morning, I couldn’t believe that it happened.”

The couple lived in the home with several family members, including their daughter and two grandchildren. They also rented out rooms to tenants.

Tenant Wiiu Wilson moved in a year ago and heard a commotion early Monday morning.

“I couldn’t understand cause the sister-in-law was screaming in Filipino and the daughter was just screaming, running out here waiting for the cops,” he said.

Family members said the suspect’s sister-in-law also suffered a minor cut on her neck.

Lt. Phillip Lavarias, of the Honolulu Police Department, said the case appears to be “domestic violence-related.”

Relatives said the suspect is a military veteran and that the couple retired after working at the Queen’s Medical Center. Melita was a certified nursing assistant and a lung cancer survivor, according to family members. They described her as very kind and caring.

Officers arrested the suspect for second-degree murder.

Lilia Fajotina said the last time she spoke to her brother-in-law he mentioned he was taking anti-depressants. “I ask him ‘Why?’ He said that’s what your manong Melita wants me to take it. Then I ask him is that a doctor’s order, and he said ‘yes.'”