Maui man appears in court for allegedly killing estranged wife — (KHON 2)

We’re learning more about what led up to a deadly stabbing on Maui earlier this week.

Stephen Schmidt, 45, made his first court appearance Thursday on charges of murder and two counts of attempted murder.

According to court documents, Schmidt, was looking for his estranged wife, Kehau Farias Schmidt, and her boyfriend at Foodland in Kehalani Village Center in Wailuku Tuesday evening.

Farias Schmidt was separated from Schmidt at the time, and had a restraining order against him.

In the TRO, Farias Schmidt claimed:

“January-March 2016- On usually the ending of the month first two weeks his [sic] under the influence of prescribed pain medication and he yells at me constantly calls me names like xx, xx, xx and stupid. He threatens to overdose on his pills. He also threaten to commit suicide and kill me with him in the middle of March.

“2014- He shoved me in the bathtub because I didn’t want to do something he asked. At one time he also shoved me into the towel rack.

“He makes me afraid with his looks gestures and actions, puts me down, makes me feel guilty, calls me names and swears to me, plays mind games with me, makes me feel guilty, tries to commit suicide, uses jealous [sic] to justify his actions, says I caused and deserved the abuse and prevents me from keeping a job.”

“She took steps to protect herself from this man. Steps include moving out from residence, obtaining a TRO and she was granting protection on April 13, 2016,” Byron Fujieda, Maui County deputy prosecutor, told the judge.

A store employee reportedly witnessed Schmidt stabbing her “one to three times in the chest.” She died at the hospital.

Police say Schmidt also stabbed two men who tried to intervene. They required surgery for their injuries.

According to police, Schmidt fled the scene and was arrested after crashing his vehicle into his Kahului residence.

Police said Schmidt told his daughter that he stabbed someone, and asked the officers, “What you guys charging me with, huh …. You guys cannot charge me with murder because she is still alive, she never die.”

He later provided a statement denying any knowledge of the incident and said the last thing he remembered was taking about three Ambien sometime in the afternoon, court documents said.

The judge ordered that Schmidt be held without bail. He’s scheduled to return to court next Monday.