The Naval Criminal Investigative Service, or NCIS, hopes somebody out there knows something about the death of two young Marines in East Honolulu 43 years ago.
Lance Cpls. Lawrence "Larry" Martens, 19, and Rodney "Rocky" Padilla, 21, were found beaten and shot in the unpaved parking lot at Maunalua Bay in Hawaiʻi Kai on Sept. 7, 1980.
They had left the Marine Corps base in Kāneʻohe for a night out, but they never returned.
NCIS Special Agent Leslie Smith and Investigator Philip Camero are working on the cold case. NCIS took the lead in 2021.
"That area was known for people to go and park and talk story and perhaps even drink. So that's very curious of how our Marines ended up from the Marine Base all the way to that small boat harbor in Hawaiʻi Kai," Camero said.
Smith said Honolulu police documented that a few people may have observed the assault, and possibly the murders.
"There was also documented in an adjacent area to where Larry's vehicle was found, was writing in the sand. We're not at this time able to tell you what that writing was. But based off of the tide charts from that time, we do believe that puts someone or a few people there that potentially overheard or saw snippets of this engagement," she said.
Smith said they are fairly confident that someone from the community could help solve the case.
"Just a small little tidbit could be invaluable as to setting the scene and providing some context as to what Larry and Rocky were doing prior to their deaths, who they were engaging with, and what happened," Smith told The Conversation.
Anonymous tips can be submitted online to NCIS.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Sept. 26, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1. Sophia McCullough adapted this story for the web.
