Thomas Garner of Florida is accused of killing Kathy Hicks (25) in 1982

[JohnLanders]

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2021/0...d-florida-man/

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - A nearly 40-year-old cold case may be solved after DNA from the scene of a Honolulu murder was linked to a man in Florida.

Authorities said DNA from Thomas Garner of Jacksonville, Florida matched evidence from the scene where Kathy Hicks?s body was found in 1982.

According to the Honolulu Police Department?s Cold Case Unit, the 25-year-old was discovered on a grassy slope along Nuuanu Pali Drive.

Reports indicated she had been assaulted and strangled to death.

KGMB covered the story in September 1982:

?Homicide detectives say the woman was fully clothed in slacks and a blouse and that she had apparently been beaten. There were wounds on the head and face.?

A warrant alleged Garner was in Honolulu at the same time Hicks was visiting for a softball tournament with her Delta Airlines co-worker

Court documents said evidence collected from the scene was entered into a national database, which connected Garner?s DNA to the scene.

Garner is currently in custody in Florida, awaiting trial for the 1984 killing of a Navy recruit.

Hawaii News Now reached out to HPD for more information and is waiting for a response.

Copyright 2021 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.

Garner's other case:http://mydeathspace.com/vb/showthrea...lial-DNA-match

[Bewitchingstorm]

This is from 2023.

A jury on Tuesday returned a not guilty verdict in the 1982 cold case murder of a 25-year-old woman whose body was found along Nuuanu Pali Drive.

Convicted murderer Thomas Garner, of Florida, was charged with the crime following DNA advances. Authorities say the new evidence showed Garner killed Kathy Hicks 40 years ago.

But the jury wasn’t swayed.

Garner’s attorney said the state “simply didn’t have enough evidence.”

Garner is already serving a life sentence in Florida for another woman’s murder in 1984.

But evidence from that case was not admissible at trial.

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/0...illing-hawaii/

[raisedbywolves]

Well, at least he's already in prison and will likely stay there.

[Bewitchingstorm]

Well, at least he's already in prison and will likely stay there.

Exactly.