WHAT DROVE PARIS ODA TO KILL HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN BEFORE TAKING HIS OWN LIFE?
The Oda family
In what is Hawaii’s worst mass killing in over two decades, a 46-year-old father of three used a kitchen knife to fatally stab his wife and three children to death in their family home in Honolulu on 10 March 2023.
After murdering his family, Paris Oda took his own life.
One of their neighbours described the family, who lived in Mānoa, a residential neighbourhood in Honolulu, as “normal and typical”, adding, “They always put decorations up for festivals and let the children play in the street”. And as news of the tragic deaths began to circulate, acommunity in shock struggled to understand what could have driven the quiet father with no history of violence to commit such an extreme act.
911 CALLS
Police were first alerted to an issue at 3622 Waaloa Place, the Oda family home, at 8.34am when someone called the authorities after hearing screaming coming from the home. The officers knocked on the door, but getting no response, they left. They received a second 911 call 30 minutes later, at 9am. That call was later revealed as being made by a tenant in the home ,who had barricaded herself in her room. She said she had heard screaming
and saw “blood seeping through her bedroom door”, but was too afraid to come out.
As officers once again visited the home, the tenant climbed out of awindow to let them into the residence. Gaining entry to the home at approximately 9.15am, officers were horrified to discover the bodies of all five family members. It’s believed from the shellshocked tenant’s statement that the victims were likely stabbed at around 2.30am. Two of the children were found alone in their bedrooms, while another was found in the master bedroom, where her mother’s body was also discovered.
Areport from the Medical Examiner’s Office detailed the horrific injuries suffered by all the deceased. Mum Naoko, 48, and children Sakurako, 17, Orion, 12, and Nana, ten, had all been stabbed. The report states that Naoko and Sakurako suffered multiple sharp force injuries over their bodies, while Nana and Orion died of sharp force wounds to the torso. All the victims showed signs of defensive wounds and it’s believed they all died within afew hours of each other.
The Oda family had lived in the area for just over a decade, purchasing their home for $1m in 2013 .Oda was apparently a successful chiropractor and loving father, who had no prior convictions. He was, in many ways, amodel citizen. However, in recent months, Oda had been harbouring a secret that became so overwhelming, he could no longer cope. That secret was mountains of unpaid debt – since 2017, Oda had found himself in financial dire straits.
DEBTS
As details
