An African American man was found hanging on his front porch in Haiku, Hawaii, after on-going disputes with his landlord.
Julian Henry Heyward III, 67, was missing for five days and was found on August 10 hanging on his front porch.
Heyward’s son described on a Facebook post that his father lost his job due to Covid-19, and could no longer afford to maintain his house. Heyward’s landlord began to harass him and refused to fill out a form for COVID-19 tenant relief.
Heyward filed a police report against the landlord, to find out that the landlord was illegally sub-leasing the house. In response, the landlord turned off the utilities in the house. Heyward, again, filed another police report to force the landlord to turn back on the utilities.
Property management heard of the illegal activity and scheduled inspection on August 5th. The landlord started sending threatening emails to other tenants stating that Heyward “better have his sh*t out”.
After the inspection, an unidentified man approached Heyward on the property claiming to be the owner. All cellular activity stopped after that. On August 10th, Heyward was supposed to attend court against the landlord.
The landlord won because Heyward was a no show. Heyward’s death was originally ruled as a suicide, despite the police reports and the numerous claims of harassment. After his son’s post on Facebook went viral, Maui police have decided to re-open the investigation.
Photo Credit: Julian Henry Heyward via Facebook
Photo Credit : Julian Henry Heyward via Facebook