Update: In January of 2023, Bernard Brown was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
=============================
More than eight years after Moreira “Mo” Monsalve disappeared in Hawaii, her ex-boyfriend Bernard Brown has been found guilty of her murder.
Mo was reportedly last seen by Brown, on January 12, 2014, when she stopped by his Wailuku residence. Two days later, the 46-year-old was reported missing by her daughter, Alexis Felicilda.
Several days later, some of Mo’s personal belongings were found in a dumpster at a nearby community center in Wailuku.
When Dateline reported on the disappearance as part of our “Missing in America” series in September of 2014, Maui Police said Brown was a person of interest in the case, but had not yet been named a suspect.
Mo’s body has not been found.
Five years later, in September 2019, Brown was indicted for her murder.
At the time, Mo’s daughter, Alexis, told local NBC affiliate KHNL that she’d been waiting for that day for a long time.
“I’m shocked that after five years, we got this done. And I’m sad that it’s out there that she was murdered,” Alexis said. “Of course there’s anger, too. I’m angry that he felt he had the right to end my mother’s life.”
Brown pleaded not guilty in the case. Alexis faced her mother’s ex-boyfriend at the trial, which began earlier this month on Maui.
According to KHNL, Alexis took the stand and said she called Brown when her mother missed work and stopped answering the phone. She said, “I asked him if he had seen my mother or spoken to my mother. I was just trying to find out if he knew anything about where she was.”
One of Mo’s friends, Matthew Wilkins, testified that he told Mo he was worried about her ongoing relationship with her ex-boyfriend. “I had expressed concerns to Mo,” he said. “And I told her that she needed to make good decisions and be careful.” Wilkins said Mo told him she felt like she was “able to handle herself."
On Thursday, KHNL reported that the Deputy Prosecutor, J.W. Hupp, said that “the case was extremely difficult for the jury because of the lack of a traditional crime scene.” He went on to thank Mo’s family and friends who waited so long.
During the trial, Brown’s lawyer, Randall Hironaka, argued that there was no hard evidence linking Brown to the murder of Moreira Monsalve. KHNL quoted Hironaka as saying, “There’s no hair or other biological evidence saying that Bernard killed Ms. Monsalve.” Hironaka claimed the trial was a “witch hunt.”
The jury began deliberations earlier this week, and on Thursday found Brown guilty of murdering Mo in 2014.
“We certainly respect the jury’s decision, but it’s definitely disappointing,” Brown’s lawyer, Hironaka, told KHNL.
