A man accused of killing his girlfriend and dumping her body in Wahiawa has been granted supervised release. 21-year-old Kaniala Avilla-Rapoza is charged with murder in the death of 19-year-old Nelibeth Albert back in May.

Police: Murder suspect admitted to killing girlfriend, led officers to her body

The Prosecutor’s Office opposed his release but Avilla-Rapoza’s attorney tells us DNA evidence supports their position that Kaniala did not kill her.

Under supervised release, Avilla-Rapoza will be living with his parents again. Because he’s diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder his attorney says Kaniala already has social limitations, but he’s allowed to leave the house with his parents.

Avilla-Rapoza’s attorney says the court considered several factors in Thursday’s hearing for supervised release.

“Throughout the investigation there was DNA collected and the results came back I say within 3 weeks ago and we provided them excluding Kaniala as a possible contributor on the DNA collected from Albert’s body,” said Associate Attorney of the Law Office of Myles Breiner Moanikeala Crowell.

We asked if that meant none of Avilla-Rapoza’s DNA showed up?

“In the specific areas where they were collected without going into further detail, but they are critical for the purposes of the case,” said Crowell.

Deputy Prosecutor Tiffany Kaeo tells us they will not discuss evidence of the trial outside of the courtroom at this time but Avilla-Rapoza’s charges still remain. They will continue with his trial scheduled for October 29th.

