Honolulu Cold Case: Daughter seeks public’s help to find her father’s killers

HONOLULU- It has been 20 years since David Walden was murdered on a Honolulu dock at Pier 24 as he waited for a shipment to arrive from Maui.

Witnesses reported two motorcycle riders approached Walden and shot him in broad daylight on Saturday, April 16, 1994, but the killers wore helmets and long-sleeved clothing and have never been identified.

Walden’s daughter, Angela Walden Whitworth, wants answers. She was 15 when her father, who supplied trucks to film and television productions here, was killed. For two decades, she’s waited for justice.

“It was the worst day of my life,” Whitworth said.

Honolulu police told Hawaii News Now this week that they have new leads in the case, but need more information and hope anyone with tips will come forward to either the Honolulu Police Department or Honolulu Crimestoppers.

Investigative reporter Jim Dooley, who covered organized crime for the Honolulu Advertiser, KITV News and Hawaii Reporter, said that 10 years ago, Honolulu police unsuccessfully re-examined the Walden murder case.

“This is the second time the police have done a cold case investigation. On the 10^th anniversary, they conducted DNA tests on a cigarette butt found at the murder scene, but it turned out to be the victim’s DNA,” Dooley said.

The murder was a direct outgrowth of the struggle for control of movie trucks used on television and movie shows filmed in Hawaii, Dooley said.

Both Honolulu police and U.S. Department of Justice investigators looked into whether two people convicted in an arson conspiracy case that involved the burning of movie trucks were responsible for the murder, Dooley said. Those two men were Joseph Tavares and George Cambra Sr.

The arsons left George Cambra’s company in control of the industry.

Walden worked for his family’s Mainland company that brought new production vehicles into the Hawaii market. He was at Pier 24 to take delivery of vehicles that had been used on a Maui television production.

Following the murder, Cambra and Tavares blamed each other for involvement in the murder, Dooley said. Both men denied involvement and there was never enough evidence to support the allegations against either man.

Shortly after the Walden murder, Dooley said, Cambra was badly beaten when he met with fellow Teamsters Union movie drivers at Kewalo Basin, not too far from where Walden was murdered.

Cambra claimed the drivers were trying to force him to transfer ownership of a production vehicle to them. But other drivers told police and the FBI that they accused Cambra of involvement in the Walden murder, Dooley reported in 1999.

The U.S. Attorney and FBI conducted a grand jury investigation of the Walden homicide in 1999 and called various movie drivers to testify, but no charges ever came of it, Dooley said.

Whitworth, who is living in the Kansas City area, and now has three children of her own, is asking the public’s help in solving this cold case. She’s launched a Facebook page for her father www.facebook.com/JusticeforDavidWalden

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