HONOLULU (KHON2) -- The suspect arrested in connection with a Maui carjacking, in which the tourist victims say they were hunted and had to flee up Haleakalā, has a long criminal history beginning in his teens.
Authorities are all too familiar with Christopher Helmer, the man in custody on these charges. He had bailed out just a month before on a separate kidnapping case. Meanwhile the community continues to send aloha to the victims saying this is not Hawaii.
It's a nightmare Alex and Justina Lucero say will haunt them forever--a Road to Hana excursion turned hide-and-run for their lives overnight up the backside of Haleakala after being carjacked by one man, and seeing more join in on what they call a hunt.
"The initial trauma of having a gun to your face is one thing but that is almost something that we could easily, quickly get over but this feeling of being hunted and not knowing the extent of, you know, the yeah, what they would do, what they wanted and who he had at his fingertips to help," Alex and Justina Lucero said.
It happened the evening of June 4 on the Kaupō side of Haleakalā after GPS and friendly local assurances said that was the route to take back to Kīhei.
"We didnʻt have any reservations regarding that route. The road is beautiful," the pair said.
They say a man blocked the road at a pinchpoint one car wide, robbed them at gunpoint, ordered them to walk back toward Hāna only to grow more aggravated leading to a hide-and-chase, a gunshot fired, and an overnight odyssey that lasted well through the next day ending with a national park ranger rescue atop Haleakalā.
"This should not have happened. And clearly this was another escalation of some of the things that he has done before," Pamela Tumpap of the Maui Chamber of Commerce told KHON2.
If the bail was higher and he was in prison awaiting his trial then this would not have happened.
Just one month prior, court records show Christopher Helmer was arrested on a kidnapping and terroristic threatening case. He bailed out of the police station upon arrest on a $55,000 bond.
County prosecutor Andrew Martin explained that police then forwarded the case to prosecutors.
"When we received the case, we indicted Helmer at the next available grand jury and asked the court to set" $250,000 bail.
It was on that outstanding warrant that police arrested Helmer four days after the Lucerosʻ incident and this week prosecutors indicted Helmer in connection with their case, adding another $500,000 bail to total $750,000 for both cases.
"Yeah, he was in our rental car so he doesnʻt have, heʻs not very, you know, heʻs not a smart criminal."
But he is a prolific one.
At just 35 years old he already has decades of convictions for: kidnapping; sex assault, including an incident from his teenage years for which heʻs on the sex offender registry; robbery; abuse, including of a then-pregnant girlfriend; terroristic threatening; assault; criminal property damage; accidents involving damage.
He has been in and out of jail and back and forth with probation, parole and residential drug rehab.
According to the Luceros, Helmer stood out as a suspect in their case, according to an interaction with a liaison officer assigned to their case.
"He was very kind. He was apologizing. He said this is not the Maui that I know and love. This is a heinous act. He even knew right away who he thought it was," the Luceros said.
Meanwhile, locals statewide, and visitor and business agencies are showing an outpouring of support for the victims.
The Maui Visitors & Convention Bureau told KHON2 they were "very surprised that a crime of this nature would occur. And a special acknowledgment to visitor-oriented police officer Kevin Dunn for going above and beyond."
"He basically became our police escort and took us everywhere. And he understood the severity of the situation," the Luceros said.
The law enforcement and agency response to the incident came from MPD, prosecutors, the Maui Visitors & Convention Bureau and the Visitor Aloha Society as well as the National Park Service, Maui Memorial Medical Center and ambulance for medical treatment necessary after a physically dangerous overnight hike in frigid temperatures, risking injury and dehydration.
Mufi Hannemann, chairman of the Hawaii Tourism Authority said "Crime against visitors is rare in Hawaii. Iʻd like to assure travelers that the Hawaiian islands remain a safe and welcoming place to visit despite this isolated occurrence."
"I have enough capacity to realize that these terrible men that did this to us and the man that held us at gunpoint is not a direct reflection of Maui," Alex Lucero said.
"I just want to say to Alex and Justina, you have handled this terrible and unfathomable tragedy with such grace and with such aloha," Tumpap said. "As horrific as this was and should never have happened, we pray and will be appropriately dealt with so that it never happens again."
Authorities said the investigation into the involvement of other individuals remains active and ongoing.