Aracely Hoffman, 40, was found dead in Pahoa on May 6, 2016, in a case that shocked Hawaiʻi Island. Police stopped a car driven by her husband, John Ali Hoffman, in Leilani Estates after spotting him leaving the family home without headlights; blood was seen dripping from the trunk and Aracely’s body was inside. Officers then discovered the couple’s two young children dead inside the house. Authorities tied all three deaths together as a domestic homicide centered on the family home.

Investigators said John Hoffman had called police earlier and claimed three or four intruders had shot his wife, but officers reported finding a gun on the front seat of his car and other scene details that cast doubt on that account. He was arrested and charged; prosecutors treated the killings as a family triple homicide with Hoffman as the sole publicly identified suspect. The case has since been delayed for years by repeated mental health evaluations and competency hearings, and by 2023 he had spent more than seven years in the Hilo jail without a trial.

Aracely is described as a churchgoing mother from El Salvador who had built a life in Pahoa. Does anyone have information about Aracely, her family, or the night of May 6, 2016?