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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Man held in wife's death at hotel


Advertiser Staff

A San Jose, Calif., man remained in police custody on the Big Island yesterday on suspicion of murder after his wife fell to her death from a Kona hotel on Saturday.

The Hawai'i County Police Department yesterday identified the victim as Karen Marie Celaya, 52, of San Jose.

Her husband, William Brill, 58, was arrested on suspicion of murder, the police department said in a news release.

Celaya was fatally injured in a fall from her second-floor room at a hotel on Ali'i Drive in Kailua, Kona, on Saturday night. Patrol officers responded at 10:17 p.m. to a report that a woman fell from a balcony onto rocks below.

Officers arrested Brill after learning that other hotel guests told hotel security personnel that they heard a heated argument coming from the room occupied by Brill and Celaya prior to her falling.

An autopsy had been scheduled for yesterday. Results were not immediately made public.

Police ask that anyone with information about this case call the Kona police station at 326-4646 or the police nonemergency line at 935-3311.

Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at 329-8181 in Kona or 961-8300 in Hilo. All Crime Stoppers information is kept confidential.