{"id":781,"date":"2026-06-26T10:37:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T10:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=781"},"modified":"2026-06-26T10:37:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T10:37:49","slug":"former-kona-man-sentenced-for-slaying-dismembering-girlfriend-in-arkansas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=781","title":{"rendered":"Former Kona man sentenced for slaying, dismembering girlfriend in Arkansas"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>A 33-year-old former Kailua-Kona man was sentenced Tuesday in Arkansas to life without the possibility of parole plus 22 years for murdering and dismembering his former girlfriend in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=779\">NCAA\u2019s new eligibility cap rule would have changed the game for UH sports<\/a><\/p>\n<p>According to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette newspaper in Fayetteville, Kacey Kawika Jennings \u2014 a Kealakehe High School graduate \u2014 was found guilty of capital murder, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and theft of property for the shotgun slaying of 28-year-old Allison Maria Castro, who also graduated from Kealakehe.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Washington County Circuit Court jury had the option of sentencing Jennings to death, but chose to spare his life. They also levied a $30,000 fine as part of the sentence.<\/p>\n<p>Castro\u2019s mother told reporters after Jennings was sentenced that her daughter moved to Arkansas to become a nurse, and praised the police and prosecutors who worked on her daughter\u2019s case.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis could not have happened without the cooperation of all the teams that came together to give us what we have now, which is justice,\u201d Michelle Tomas told KSFM-TV in Fort Smith, Ark. \u201d The community is safer because one monster is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors told jurors that on Aug. 19, 2022, Jennings used a shotgun he bought about two months earlier to shoot Castro \u2014 who reportedly was ending her relationship with him \u2014 in the chest and head, according to the Democrat Gazette. The shooting took place in the apartment they had shared.<\/p>\n<p>Jennings dismembered the body and disposed of its parts and the shotgun in Beaver Lake, a man-made reservoir in the Ozark Mountains.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Arkansas newspaper, prosecutors said Jennings sold Castro\u2019s belongings, used her credit card and cash, cleaned up the apartment where she was killed and afterward used her phone to send messages to her mother and others.<\/p>\n<p>Police responded on Sept. 19, 2022, to a Fayetteville residence to find Jennings in the throes of an apparent drug overdose, according to the Democrat Gazette. Officers reportedly found documents at the site that indicated Jennings might have killed Castro and disposed of her body.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=777\">Honokaa suspect in child enticement case to receive mental exam<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Jennings was arrested on Sept. 26, 2022, upon his release from a local medical facility, the newspaper said. He reportedly took police on the route he used to discard various body parts and the gun.<\/p>\n<p>According to the newspaper, fishermen found Castro\u2019s lower legs floating in Beaver Lake. Other body parts haven\u2019t been recovered.<\/p>\n<p>After the sentencing, Tomas told Arkansas reporters she had been back 30 times searching for her daughter\u2019s remains.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAllie\u2019s still here. I don\u2019t know if y\u2019all noticed but they kept mentioning that she wasn\u2019t all recovered, so you\u2019ll see me out on the lake and in the forest continuing to search, do what I can,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Referring to \u201ctons of people in Hawaii that do miss her,\u201d Tomas said finding her daughter\u2019s remains is important, not just to the family, but as a Hawaiian cultural matter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe call bones \u2018iwi.\u2019 Iwi is important,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not something to be discarded or treated lightly. And that\u2019s what happened to Allie.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd in her honor, I need to continue my search because bones hold mana. Mana is your power, and that\u2019s not something to be thrown away or discarded.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=776\">U.S. Supreme Court overturns Hawaii gun law<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Email John Burnett at john.burnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Kona man sentenced for slaying, dismembering girlfriend in Arkansas &#8211; Hawaii News | Hawaii Tribune-Herald<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Former Kona man sentenced for slaying, dismembering girlfriend in Arkansas - 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