It’s necessary to add some caveats to my recent story on the kidnapping and torture of Jonathan Fraser (“Newly Unsealed Documents In Miske Case Tell A Grisly Tale Of Kidnap, Torture And Murder“).

As mentioned in the story, despite the specificity and emotion of the story told by James Borling-Salas, who said he was a witness to the assault on Fraser, and his subsequent murder believed to have been for being a snitch, he did later say that he hadn’t told the truth. However, that statement was later clarified.

According to a subsequent application for search warrant, Borling-Salas, referred to as CS2, said he had lied about the bone in a pot on the stove, but that his other statements were truthful.

On December 22, 2016, investigators interviewed CS2 at HPD Main Station. CS2 advised that he/she had lied previously regarding his/her observation of an arm bone being boiled by Bermudez in a pot and that he/she made that statement to relatives to see if they could be trusted. CS2 advised that the statements made regarding his/her observations of Fraser being beaten and burned by a torch at the Kalihi house were true. CS2 advised that he/she had observed a portion of the video of the torture and that he/she believed the video may be saved on Smith’s Gmail e-mail account. CS2 advised that Smith maintained a record of his criminal activity on his Gmail account and would sometimes send pictures of his crimes to people he trusted. CS2 did not know Smith’s Gmail account address.

But that’s not the end of the story.

Different scenarios are put forward by different witnesses in various places among the many documents.

For example:

28. In March 2017, CS2 advised that Miske had purchased a Boston Whaler recreational fishing boat. The Boston Whaler had four large outboard motors and Miske wanted the Boston Whaler because it could travel at high speeds. CS2 stated that the Boston Whaler was used in the disappearance of Fraser.

29. In June 2017, Confidential Witness Four (CW4) reported that Miske drove an older model, white Toyota minivan with gray bumpers to transport Fraser
from the Hawaii Kai neighborhood where Fraser lived, to Mike’s Boston Whaler boat. Fraser was subsequently taken onto the boat where he was shot with a handgun by Lance Bermudez, and subsequently thrown overboard into the ocean by Miske and Bermudez.

30. A investigators have determined that Miske purchased a Boston Whaler 370 Outrage called “Painkiller,’ bearing identification number HA 9849 H,
vessel hull identification number (HIN) BWCE1942D414 in June 2016.

And in a different document:

14. CW6 is an associate of Miske. CW6 has multiple convictions for both violent and non-violent felonies, the exact nature of which could potentially identify this individual and are, therefore, omitted.

28. In June 2017, CW6 reported that Miske had instructed Bermudez to hide on board Mike’s Boston Whaler boat. Miske then transported Fraser from the Hawaii Kai neighborhood, where Fraser lived, to Miske’s boat. According to CW6, Fraser was subsequently taken onto Miske’s boat, and while traveling on the boat, Fraser was shot with a handgun by Lance Bermudez and then later thrown overboard into the ocean by Miske and Bermudez. CW6 also stated that Miske paid a Bermudez a large sum of cash for murdering Fraser.

Then there are other scenarios that have been described in motions filed by Miske’s attorneys that claim Fraser’s murder had nothing to do with Miske, although I haven’t come across any of those in the documents released so far.

The point is that, at this point, the public just doesn’t have access to the weight of the evidence that would support choosing one scenario as true over all the others.