US national

Tongan man charged over murder of 50-year-old US national

Taniela Siale Lopiseni Salakielu, 22, of Henderson, Nevada, was charged Friday with murder, a first-degree felony; burglary, a second-degree felony; and theft, also a second-degree felony in 2nd District Court.

The state’s media reports said Salakielu was arrested on 22 August 2018, in relation to the death of Rand Hatch, after Hatch was found dead in his Bountiful home a few days earlier.

Bountiful Police began investigating Hatch’s death after his body was found by his brother on 19 August.

Man who won't be extradited to Tonga for wife's murder says he's innocent

"I didn't kill my wife, that's ridiculous. Unfounded," Fletcher said, as he left the federal courthouse Friday.

"I love my wife with all my heart and soul and it's a tragic accident and there's nothing I regret worse than the death of my wife. I had nothing to do with it."

A U.S. judge in Hawaii ordered Fletcher's release from the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu on Wednesday.

Fletcher and his Canadian wife, Patricia Linne Kearney, were in Tonga living on a sailboat in July 2016 when witnesses said he beat her to death.

74-year-old US man found dead on yacht in Tonga

Kaniva News reports the health authority at Ngū Hospital confirmed the deceased died from a heart attack.

Tongan authorities were making contact with the US Embassy in Fiji to decide whether the deceased’s body would be flown home to California or they would bury it in Vavaʻu, Police Superintend Nētane Falakiseni said.

The deceased arrived in Vavaʻu in October 2015 and his visa expired in November this year, Falakiseni said.

He said the deceased’s yacht was docked at Vaipua slip ready to be taken inland as hurricane season approached.