Death in a meth lab devastates a family

Justin Pila didn't want to leave Hawaii.

Like any teenager, he was reluctant to leave those childhood friendships that are supposed to last a lifetime. But his parents, Zane and Rena Pila, believed leaving the lush, tropical forests of the Big Island for the arid Nevada desert would improve the family's financial status.A year later, steady work and a new home proved them right. The children thrived in their new environment, and Justin began to feel more comfortable as he met new friends.

But then Justin decided to come to Salt Lake City to work with his maternal uncle and, in doing so, he became the victim of Utah's drug of choice.

Justin Pila, 17, died July 4 of a methamphetamine overdose ingested at his uncle's Millcreek apartment. And although it is unknown whether the teen took the drug voluntarily or was forced to take it, prosecutors believe the uncle should be held responsible because they say he allowed the youth to come within the drug's reach.

The uncle, Richard L. Kunishige, 31, is charged with murder, a first-degree felony. He was arrested earlier this month in Hawaii, and investigators hope to return him to Utah Nov. 24.

"I believe everything was starting to go really well. We were starting to get there, and then this happens. We've never been the same since," Zane Pila told the Deseret News from his home in Henderson, Nev.

Salt Lake Deputy District Attorney Jim Cope said he filed the murder charge after learning that Kunishige was operating a methamphetamine lab in his apartment.

"I'm not saying he (literally) killed the kid. I'm saying he allowed the kid to work in a meth lab

with him and he knew darn well that that constituted a grave risk of death," Cope said. "We think that a meth lab by now ought to be recognized by most people, and certainly by people who work in meth labs, as an inherently dangerous place."

According to police reports, Justin Pila was in full cardiac arrest when he arrived at the emergency room of St. Mark's Hospital shortly before midnight on July 4. During an interview that night, Kunishige told Salt Lake County sheriff's detective Mark Chidester that he had invited two methamphetamine cooks to his apartment earlier that day.

"We were told by Richard that Justin was in the bedroom with the cooks all day long and that he wore a particle mask to try to protect him from the chemical fumes," Chidester said.

Kunishige told the detective that after cooking the methamphetamine, the two cooks pulled out a gun, told Kunishige and Pila to shut their eyes and open their mouths, placed part of the finished product on their tongues and forced them to swallow.

"We have not been able to confirm that story," Chidester said.

Investigators found a working methamphetamine lab in Kunish-i-ge's apartment, 827 E. Green Blossom Court (4550 South), but none of the people named by Kunishige has been located.

A few minutes after ingesting the drug, Justin Pila began to have seizures and his temperature alternated from hot to cold, Chidester said. Kunishige treated Pila for about two hours by covering him with hot or cold wet clothing and giving him hot milk, believing "this was an aid in meth overdoses."

"As time went on, Justin got sicker and sicker," the detective said. Eventually, he could only lay down and shiver, and he finally lost consciousness.

When another roommate came home and noticed Pila's condition, she called paramedics from a neighbor's apartment. A medical examiner's autopsy revealed Pila died of acute methamphetamine poisoning, according to the charges filed against Kunishige.

Chidester believes Kunishige should be held responsible for the death because "whether he gave it to him or allowed him to take it, it's the same."

"It's not by any means a premeditated murder," Chidester added. But "he could have intervened in this kid's death had he sought medical attention."

Kunishige was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail that night but was released three days later. Charges were filed against him Oct. 13 after investigators received conclusive blood toxin results.

A Hawaii County police officer spotted Kunishige riding in a car on a Waimea highway about a month later, Hawaii County Police Lt. Francis Rodillas said. Ku-nish-ige waived extradition to Utah and is being held in the Hawaii Community Correctional Center in Hilo. Chidester said he expects to pick up Kunishige Nov. 24.

Zane Pila said he and his wife want "justice to prevail" and for Kunishige "to be dealt with the way the law feels necessary."

Justin Pila had called his father the night before he died and said everything was fine in Utah.

"He said he liked the mountains," Zane Pila recalled. "He told me he wanted to come back (to Henderson) to visit but he kind of liked it over there and it seemed like he wanted to work over there for a while."

The following night, Zane Pila received the call about the tragic death. "It made me very mad, and it broke my heart," he said. "I was very upset with my brother-in-law."

The Pilas relocated their four-child family from their native Hilo, a rural town with a population of about 30,000, to Henderson in the spring of 1997 in search of work. As skilled tile-setters, Zane, Rena and three of her brothers found plenty of work in the rising casinos of nearby Las Vegas.

Justin Pila, who dropped out of high school in the 10th grade, had been learning the trade with his parents, working on such massive projects as the recently opened five-star Bellagio casino. But in June, the opportunity opened for him to work with his uncle in Salt Lake City.

At first, Zane Pila said he was hesitant to let his son live with his uncle, who is known in his family to have had several run-ins with the law in Hawaii, where he has about five children, Zane Pila said.

"Richard had said he'd changed his ways, and I didn't really want to stop Justin from growing up and seeing and working in other places. He seemed a pretty smart guy and could pretty much take care of himself," he said.

Justin, the Pila's second oldest, would have turned 18 on Aug. 25. The youth had had a somewhat troubled adolescence, getting probation once for school problems and running away from home once. But "since we moved here, we became a lot closer," Zane Pila said. "We've always been good friends, we'd done everything together, always."

Justin was buried in Hilo, the land where he was born, because "he always wanted to go home," Zane Pila said.

"He always said that when he was old enough and had enough money he would go back."