On Sunday night, February 9, 2014, 27-year-old Carly Scott, a resident of Makawao, a town on the Hawaiian island of Maui, received a call from Steven Capobianco. Carly Scott's 24-year-old ex-boyfriend and father of her unborn child said his truck was stuck in a ditch off the Hana Highway near mile marker 30 in the Keanae area.
Carly left her house that night with her pit bull mix Nala in her 1997 Silver Toyota 4Runner. On Monday morning, when Carly Scott didn't show up for work, her mother reported her missing to the Maui police. That day, friends and family of the missing 5-foot-10, 160 pound woman with shoulder-length red hair, drove up and down the Hana Highway looking for her. They were concerned she might have driven off a cliff.
That morning, February 10, 2014, one of Carly's sisters, Kimberly Scott, spoke to Steven Capobianco who said that after Carly had pulled him out of the ditch, the two of them proceeded on the highway with her following behind his truck. At some point he didn't see her headlights anymore.
At six in the evening of Wednesday, February 12, 2014, Carly's friends came across the missing woman's SUV in Haiku, Maui. The vehicle, completely gutted by fire, had been rolled over onto its side. The burned-out Toyota was lying in a pineapple field off Peahi Road that led to a popular surfing spot known as "Jaws." Carly Scott was not in the vehicle. (Her dog Nala had turned up two days earlier in Nahiku.)
The day after her friends found Carly's torched 4Runner in the pineapple field, Mileka Lincoln, a reporter with Hawaii News, interviewed Steven Capobianco. The ex-boyfriend confirmed that on Sunday, the night Carly went missing, she helped him get his truck out of the ditch. Later, the two of them headed toward Haiku 25 miles up the road. She followed behind, and when he reached Twin Falls, he looked in his rearview mirror and didn't see her headlights. Capobianco drove home and assumed that Carly had made it back safety to her house.
"I sent her a text that said, 'Thank you,' but I figured she was working. That's why she didn't get back to me right away." [Apparently Carly had a late night job.]
According to Steven Capobianco, "It wasn't until the cops showed up at my house at 5:30 in the morning the next day [Monday February 10] that I realized something was wrong." Capobianco told the reporter that Maui police questioned him at the police station where he took a polygraph exam. When he asked how he had done on the lie test, a detective informed him that according to the instrument, he had not told the truth.
To the reporter, Capobianco insisted that he "absolutely" had not hurt his ex-girlfriend. "I mean," he said, "it's understandable that I'm probably the prime suspect, so they're [the police] not going to tell me details (of the case)."
Carly left her house that night with her pit bull mix Nala in her 1997 Silver Toyota 4Runner. On Monday morning, when Carly Scott didn't show up for work, her mother reported her missing to the Maui police. That day, friends and family of the missing 5-foot-10, 160 pound woman with shoulder-length red hair, drove up and down the Hana Highway looking for her. They were concerned she might have driven off a cliff.
That morning, February 10, 2014, one of Carly's sisters, Kimberly Scott, spoke to Steven Capobianco who said that after Carly had pulled him out of the ditch, the two of them proceeded on the highway with her following behind his truck. At some point he didn't see her headlights anymore.
At six in the evening of Wednesday, February 12, 2014, Carly's friends came across the missing woman's SUV in Haiku, Maui. The vehicle, completely gutted by fire, had been rolled over onto its side. The burned-out Toyota was lying in a pineapple field off Peahi Road that led to a popular surfing spot known as "Jaws." Carly Scott was not in the vehicle. (Her dog Nala had turned up two days earlier in Nahiku.)
The day after her friends found Carly's torched 4Runner in the pineapple field, Mileka Lincoln, a reporter with Hawaii News, interviewed Steven Capobianco. The ex-boyfriend confirmed that on Sunday, the night Carly went missing, she helped him get his truck out of the ditch. Later, the two of them headed toward Haiku 25 miles up the road. She followed behind, and when he reached Twin Falls, he looked in his rearview mirror and didn't see her headlights. Capobianco drove home and assumed that Carly had made it back safety to her house.
"I sent her a text that said, 'Thank you,' but I figured she was working. That's why she didn't get back to me right away." [Apparently Carly had a late night job.]
According to Steven Capobianco, "It wasn't until the cops showed up at my house at 5:30 in the morning the next day [Monday February 10] that I realized something was wrong." Capobianco told the reporter that Maui police questioned him at the police station where he took a polygraph exam. When he asked how he had done on the lie test, a detective informed him that according to the instrument, he had not told the truth.
To the reporter, Capobianco insisted that he "absolutely" had not hurt his ex-girlfriend. "I mean," he said, "it's understandable that I'm probably the prime suspect, so they're [the police] not going to tell me details (of the case)."
The missing woman's ex-boyfriend said they broke up several years ago but had remained friends. He said that they "occasionally hooked-up."
"Were you excited about being a dad?" asked the reporter.
"Sort of. It was unexpected. She didn't tell me right away, but it was growing on me." At one point, Capobianco indicated that he didn't know for sure if he was the father of Carley Scott's unborn child.
On Thursday night, February 13, 2014, 16-year-old Phaedra Wais, the missing woman's half-sister, found a skirt, shirt and bloodstained bra in a remote area off the Hana Highway. When Wais reported the find to the police, an officer told her not to disturb the evidence and wait for a detective. The girl ignored this advice and drove the garments to the police station in Kahuiui. Later, police officers found a jawbone, fingertips and hair follicles near this site.
In an unrelated matter, Maui police, in April 2014, arrested Steven Capobianco on the charge of first-degree burglary. The judge set his bail at $10,000. Capobianco stood accused of breaking into a Haiku woman's apartment in September 2013 and stealing two computers and her jewelry. Police recovered the stolen property in a search of the suspect's house.
The garments found by Phaedra Wais belonged to her missing half-sister. A forensic scientist ended hope that Scott was alive by identifying the jawbone, fingertips and hair as being hers. This meant the missing person case had turned into a homicide investigation.
On July 18, 2014, a grand jury sitting in Maui indicted Steven Capobianco of murder and arson. According to the language of the true bill, the suspect had "intentionally or knowingly caused Carly Scott's death in an especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel manner that manifested exceptional depravity."
Steven Capobianco pleaded not guilty to the murder and arson charges.
On December 28, 2016, a jury in Maui, in the entirely circumstantial case, found Steven Capobianco guilty of second-degree murder and arson.
On March 24, 2017, the judge sentenced Steven Capobianco to 40 years for second-degree murder and 10 years for arson. The sentences were to run consecutively that meant the 27-year-old could serve up to 50 years in prison.
See FB page "A study to find out what happened to Charli and Joshua Scott"
ReplyDeleteAny current thoughts on this case?
ReplyDeleteWhy would he not burn her clothes and other belongings,and kill the dog, or throw her body off the cliff, this spot is known for sharks and rough surf. There are just SO MANY smarter ways he could have done this. Very stupid guy. That being said, where are the rest of her remains.
DeleteI am Charli's Mother, not her sister. There are several statements in the above article that are incorrect.
DeleteI am her mother.... some of your facts are wrong...
ReplyDeleteSo so tragic, I'm so sorry for your loss x
DeleteI think it's pretty obvious her ex bf is responsible for her death. All because he didn't want to have a baby. He took two lives. I hope he is convicted and never gets out of jail for the rest of his life.
ReplyDeleteI really suspected him early on ...
ReplyDeleteWatch the documentary on Channel Investigation Discovery, but at the end of the documentary, they had not yet found the body, and she was still reported missing.
I found strange that Steven call her late at night, as he knew she would go alone, rather than call a friend, or mechanical assistance ...
After that, he says he lost his rear headlights, and not return to see if it was okay with her? I think the minimum we would do in his place, would take her to his house back ...
It could only be himself ... what other reason would it be? She had no enemies, was not involved with drug dealers ... then ... I was in the face ...
That wicked man ... to kill an innocent and a baby ... what harm he found that they could cause you?
Repudiation ... dies in jail ...
What was the name of the documentary?
DeleteI was leaning towards the landlord I was reading that within hrs he had removed items from her place, he had never done that before so it was strange that he felt comfortable enough to do it the day she goes missing. The ex in my opinion is too convenient and his previous offenses are burglary
ReplyDeleteI was thinking it was strange for the landlord to take belongings out of her home as well. I am still really baffled why they never questioned him. I am sure it was the boyfriend but I think that the police botched this one.
DeleteSo very sad. Rest in peace Charli.
ReplyDeleteBecareful who you lay with.
ReplyDeleteHe is guilty, he knows it,God knows it and everyone suspects it. On his deathbed he will be scared,he will have thought about it and it will secretly bother him. RIP Charlie x
ReplyDeleteMost homicide and investigators say, that individuals that commit this type of gruesome crime, have escalated. I have never felt that this was his first since it was violet murder. But no proof at least not yet
ReplyDeleteThis article is FULL of mistakes. Besides police identifying his cell phone at the murder site the nite off and day after on multiple occasions. There’s also that his new girlfriend was threatening to break up w/ him bc he was gonna be a father. Also, he was talking to coworkers about how to murder someone and get rid of the body. PLUS a lot more evidence. Wasn’t “all circumstantial” by any means
ReplyDeleteIdk what he(ex) was thinking.. smh.. I mean, AT LAST get your story straight! It seems, every time he told his story, it was different. Not to mention, WHY remove her jaw, piercings, etc., before throwing her over the cliff, when we now have DNA?? Just seems like he went through so much to try and cover up the most IDIOTIC plan ever! Leaves little doubt he is a sociopath. Thinks he's smarter than everybody else; has zero empathy, only thinking about himself and his feelings. Such a shame! She was just a beautiful girl, whose dreams were finally being realized, and his selfish ass destroyed it all, hurting so many! That's OK. He'll sit in there, rotting.. ALONE.. Without a soul in the world who cares. He's lucky. He deserves much worse! We all know it was premeditated first degree murder. But, it's over now, and the police need to return all of her, and her belongings, to her family. Prayers to the family. RIP
ReplyDelete