What happens when someone is charged with murder, but the victim’s body was never found?

That’s the situation in the case against Michael J. Miske Jr., the former owner of Kamaaina Termite, M Nightclub, and several other local companies, whose trial on federal racketeering charges is expected to begin next week following jury selection, which wrapped up today. Several of the charges against Miske alleged he directed and financed the disappearance and apparent murder of Jonathan Fraser, a close friend of Miske’s late son, Caleb.

Fraser disappeared suddenly from a Keokea Place apartment in Hawaii Kai at the end of July 2016. He was never seen again, and his body was never found.

The government alleges Miske directed a conspiracy in which others took part in planning, and carrying out, Fraser’s kidnapping and murder.

Defense attorneys have repeatedly pointed to dozens of purported sightings of Fraser in the months after his disappearance, warning that prosecutors will have to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that he has actually been killed and is not simply a missing person.

If they are successful in mustering enough circumstantial evidence of his death–he left a pregnant wife, a dog that he loved, and he never again contacted those who he had kept regularly in touch with, etc.–then they will have to present evidence of Miske’s involvement.

But that doesn’t appear to be as much of a problem for prosecutors as it was previously, due in large part to the rise in DNA evidence and, as in this case, the ability of prosecutors to trace a person’s digital life, piecing together data showing movements and communications, from simple things like past text messages, emails, photos, contacts, and social media sharing, to more complex things like location tracking of cell phones, records obtained from cell phone provider databases, information extracted from cell phones related to a case, and so on. These types of data can be combined into sophisticated recreations of the communications between conspirators and the physical movements of suspects at key moments.

A former federal prosecutor, Tad DiBiase, who now maintains a blog that reports on “no-body” murder cases (including several from Hawaii), says no-body cases now have a higher conviction rate than all murder cases, perhaps because prosecutors know they have to have rock-solid and convincing evidence to move these cases forward. According to his review of 576 no-body cases he had identified as of early 2023, the conviction rate in no-body cases was approximately 86%, while the overall conviction rate in all murder cases is about 70%.

Fraser was last seen about 9:30 a.m. on July 30, 2016.

Following the digital trail

The following is based on various documents filed in federal court.

Direct testimony from cooperating witnesses, including those have previously pleaded guilty in the case, is the beginning. But it will be buttressed by evidence gleaned from digital records. For example, if someone testifies they had a meeting at a certain place on a certain day, that becomes more credible if phone location records are produced to support the claim. It is the combination of layers of supporting evidence of different types that can overcome a jury’s natural suspicions of criminals as witnesses.

In the Miske case, there will be testimony from former defendants who have pleaded guilty, admitted they were part of Miske’s criminal organization, and at least some of them aided, took part in, or witnessed elements of the conspiracy to kill Johnny Fraser.

To date, eleven of Miske’s twelve co-defendants in the case have flipped, and nine are included on the government’s list of trial witnesses. In addition, at least nine others who were charged separately have also pleaded guilty and are expected to testify.

Information about three of those–Wayne Miller, Lance Bermudez, and Harry Kauhi–including everything from their names to where they are currently located, has been removed from the Bureau of Prisons online inmate locator, apparently indicating they have been in protective custody for their own safety.

Miller, a longtime friend who went back to work for Miske after serving a long prison sentence for armed robbery of a windward credit union, has admitted assisting Miske in furthering the murder plot by helping to find people to participate and obtaining things needed to carry out the plot.

Prosecutors have alleged Jason Yokoyama, Miske’s partner in the M Nightclub, met with Michael Miske and another cooperating witness a week before Fraser disappeared, where they discussed final preparations for Fraser’s murder. They also allege Yokoyama took part by buying items to be used in the kidnapping.

One of those was a 1999 white Sienna van that had been advertised on Craigslist. It was intended to be used to kidnap Fraser, possibly then deliver him to a boat where he was to be killed.

The government’s exhibit list includes information from Craigslist for the advertised sale of a 1999 Toyota Sienna, vehicle registration, and records of the transfer of ownership.

The exhibit list publicly discloses for the first time the existence of a video clip, and a still photo lifted from the clip, taken by a home surveillance camera located on Kawaihae Street at 12:56 pm on Saturday, July 30, 2016, the day Fraser disappeared. The only way to exit Keokea Drive, where Fraser was living, is via Kawaihae Street.

The brief entry on the exhibit list does not disclose the content of the video or photo. However, the next item on the exhibit list is described as “Photo of Sienna Van #2.” This seems to suggest the photo lifted from the video may be of a Sienna van like the one Yokoyama allegedly arranged to purchase.

Yokoyama is on the prosecution’s witness list.

Norman Akau, a former executive board member of IATSE, the union representing stagehands in the film industry who has confessed to being part of Miske’s organization, said Miller conveyed an offer that he understood came from from Miske. Akau said he was offered $50,000 to kidnap Fraser and drive him to the North Shore of Oahu, where another individual would be prepared to kill him.

“My role was to pick up – the guy was going to get dropped off by Wayne Miller, and I would drive him to the north shore in which someone else would take care of the kid, and I refused,” Akau told Judge Derrick Watson during a June 2021 hearing where he entered a guilty plea in the racketeering case. Akau is on the government’s witness list for the trial.

A similar offer had been made to Lindsey Kinney, who said in a broadcast interview he had turned down the offer. Later he publicly and repeatedly accused Miske for being responsible for Fraser’s death.

Miller told investigators his failure to find someone willing to take up Miske’s offer led to him falling out of favor, with Jacob “Jake” Smith then apparently replacing Miller as Miske’s “go to” guy.

Between July 29 and July 31, 2016, a period bracketing the day Fraser disappeared, a telephone Miske was known to use exchanged approximately 64 text messages and two voice calls with Smith’s phone, which “significantly exceeded the number of text messages and voice calls between the same phones during other periods,” the government alleges.

On July 29 and 30, 2016, Smith’s cell phone, in turn, had approximately six calls and 17 text messages with a phone used by Lance Bermudez, nicknamed “Hammah,” who had a reputation as a “shooter” and was known to be a close associate of Smith. Bermudez, like Smith, was one of Miske’s co-defendants but pleaded guilty and is cooperating with prosecutors.

Between 7:49 p.m. and 9:05 p.m. on July 30, the day of Fraser’s disappearance, Miske exchanged approximately 30 text messages with a phone number prosecutors say was used by Yokoyama. During most of this period, Miske was in downtown Honolulu, according to the cell phone data.

The same day, Yokoyama allegedly phoned Burmudez and asked him to meet at Miske’s M Nightclub. At that meeting, Yokoyama is said to have asked for Bermudez’ help getting rid of a van. Yokoyama drove Burmudez to Hawaii Kai and showed him where the van was parked, then returned to the nightclub.

At 9:05 p.m., Miske’s cell phone was traced to a location near the intersection of Makaloa Street and Amana Street. Three minutes later, a phone used by Bermudez was located near the intersection of Kapiolani Boulevard and Pensacola Street, about a half-mile away.

Burmudez then picked up another associate, Dae Han Moon, and drove to Hawaii Kai, where Bermudez broke the ignition, started the van, and drove it to Ewa Beach, where it was set on fire. Moon followed in Bermudez’ car and the pair drove back to Honolulu.

“Afterward, they returned to the M nightclub where Bermudez told Yokoyama where he had taken the van and burned it,” according to Bermudez’ plea agreement. “Yokoyama then paid Bermudez $3,500.”

Bermudez, Moon, and most recently, Yokoyama, have all pleaded guilty. Prosecutors say Bermudez and Moon have both admitted their roles in disposing of the van at Yokoyama’s request. Yokoyama and Bermudez are cooperating with prosecutors and are likely to testify at the trial, although Moon is not included on the government’s witness list.

Later, just after midnight, at 12:04 a.m. on July 31, 2016, Bermudez’ phone again pinged off a cell tower just a few blocks from the Hawaii Kai apartment where Fraser was last seen, and less than a mile from where Fraser’s car was later discovered abandoned on Summer Street.

Then at approximately 12:13 a.m., Bermudez called Yokoyama’s phone and pinged off a cell tower near the intersection of Keahole Street and Keahole Place, about a mile from Fraser’s apartment.

That afternoon, July 31, between 12:14 p.m. and 12:28 p.m., Miske and Jake Smith exchanged a telephone call and 13 text messages.

Miske was located in the Waipio/Pearl City area. Smith was initially located in Kalihi, cell phone records show, and then began traveling toward West Oahu.

And at approximately 1:38 p.m., the cell phones used by Miske and Smith pinged off the same cell phone tower just off of Fort Weaver Road in Ewa Beach.

Investigators interpreted these data to indicate “Miske and Smith met in person in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, possibly for Smith to receive payment from Mike for the murder of Fraser.”

The following day, August 1, 2016, Smith deposited $6,900.00 was into a bank in Ewa Beach. The account was in the name of a person identified by prosecutors only as Cooperating Witness 3 (CW3), probably a girlfriend of Smith. “The deposit on August 1, 2016, was the largest single cash deposit made during the relevant time period.”

Bank records obtained by federal investigators found there were cash deposit totaling $68,098.00 into the account during 2016, and the $6,900 deposited by Smith on August 1 was the single largest cash deposit.

Another document in court records indicates the government later obtained a historical cell phone analysis tracking a number of phones over the period from 8 a.m. on July 30, 2016, through 4 a.m. on July 31, 2016, the period during which they believe Fraser was kidnapped and killed.

The phones for which data was obtained included those used by Miske, Jacob Smith, Jason Yokoyama, Lance Bermudez, John Stancil, Dae Han Moon and Delia Fabro-Miske.

The government list of exhibits to be introduced in the trial includes a cellular analysis survey team (CAST) report for phones used by Miske, Yokoyama, Bermudez, Fabro on July 30-31, 2016. The FBI uses proprietary techniques to refine the results and obtain much more precise location data from cell phone records than the cellular providers themselves have.

It appears that these techniques will be showcased during the Miske trial. Opening statements in the case are scheduled for January 22.