The murder of Therese Wilder was committed by two escaped convicts James Majors and John Palakiko on March 11, 1948, in Nuuanu Valley on the outskirts of

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

, when they broke into her home. They left her bound and gagged, which caused her to suffocate. The two were almost sentenced to death by the court, but were given a

stay of execution A stay of execution is a court order to temporarily suspend the execution of a court judgment or other court order. The word "execution" does not always mean the death penalty. It refers to the imposition of whatever judgment is being stayed and i ...

and sentenced to

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

instead. After the incident Morgan's Corner gained a reputation for being

haunted Haunted or The Haunted may refer to: Books * ''Haunted'' (Armstrong novel), by Kelley Armstrong, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Cabot novel), by Meg Cabot, 2004 * ''Haunted'' (Palahniuk novel), by Chuck Palahniuk, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Angel novel), a 200 ...

Morgan's Corner

Morgan's Corner is a bend on Nuuanu Pali Drive that connected Honolulu to Kāneʻohe before it was superseded by

Hawaii Route 61 Hawaii Route 61, often called the Pali Highway, is in Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States, that is the main highway connecting downtown Honolulu with the windward side of Oahu island. From downtown, it traverses up Nuuanu Valley and the resid ...

. The bend is after a hairpin turn from the Honolulu side of the bend. Morgan's Corner became referred to as a "corner" because the bend curves the road perpendicularly so that from Honolulu one enters the bend from the north and exits to the east or from Kāneʻohe one enters the bend from the east and exits to the north. The namesake came from Dr. James Morgan, who built his villa on the inside of the bend in the 1920s. Wilder's house was opposite Morgan's, south of the bend.

The Murder

At the time of the murder the area was a semirural

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

. Petty criminals James Majors (19) and John Palakiko (21) escaped a prison work crew on March 10, 1948. The next day they intended to get supplies by burglarizing a neighbor of Therese Wilder (68), widow of William Wilder. The pair were hungry and when they smelled Wilder's cooking they decided to rob her instead. The two men attacked, bound, and gagged Wilder, then left her on her bed. During the struggle Wilder had her

jaw The jaw is any opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term ''jaws'' is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth and serv ...

broken. She suffocated when she was gagged with a broken jaw. Five days later on March 16 Wilder's gardener Isabelo Escalante and maid Miya Matayoshi found her body.

Outcomes

The Honolulu Board of Supervisors offered a reward for the capture of those responsible for the murder. A few days after the murder, Majors and Palakiko were apprehended. On April 16 they were charged with

first-degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

in the court of Judge Carrick Buck. Majors pleaded not guilty and Palakiko requested to postpone his plea. On June 18 the jury found the men guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced them to

death by hanging Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging in ...

. Some

Native Hawaiians Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii ...

, local

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, and Japanese thought that their sentence showed a double standard in Hawaiian society. In the

Massie Case The Massie Trial, for what was known as the Massie Affair, was a 1932 criminal trial that took place in Honolulu, Hawaii Territory. Socialite Grace Fortescue, along with several accomplices, was charged with the murder of the well-known local prizef ...

Grace Fortescue Grace Hubbard Fortescue, (''née'' Bell) (November 3, 1883 – June 24, 1979), was a New York City socialite who murdered a man, later proven innocent, who was accused of raping her daughter. After being convicted of manslaughter at a sensational ...

, a white woman, had only served an hour-long sentence for the premeditated murder of a Hawaiian man, while Majors and Palakiko did not intend to kill Wilder and were sentenced to death. On September 13, 1951, Governor

Oren Long Oren Ethelbirt Long (March 4, 1889 – May 6, 1965) was an American politician who served as the tenth Territorial Governor of Hawaii from 1951 to 1953. A member of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, Long was appointed to the office after the term o ...

issued a

two minutes before the execution when attorney Harriet Bouslog presented evidence the men gave forced confessions. In 1954 Governor Samuel King commuted the men's sentences from death to 90 years in prison. On December 21, 1962 Governor

John Burns John Elliot Burns (20 October 1858 – 24 January 1943) was an English trade unionist and politician, particularly associated with London politics and Battersea. He was a socialist and then a Liberal Member of Parliament and Minister. He was ...

commuted the men's sentences to probation. Palakiko violated

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

and was sent to prison for three years where he died on September 11, 1974. Majors completed parole on December 20, 1968. Majors moved to

Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...

where he spent the rest of his life, dying of natural causes in 2009. After the murder, Morgan's Corner gained a reputation for being haunted. Stories about the road are often variations on the

urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

known as " The Hook".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan's Corner murder Murder in Hawaii Crimes in Hawaii 1948 in Hawaii 1948 murders in the United States March 1948 events in the United States