Dismissal of case in 2000 Maui murder brings anguish and relief

HONOLULU (KHON2) — A man behind bars for years awaiting a Maui murder trial is about to be set free, after a judge dismissed the case against him. The family of the woman killed 23 years ago said they still demand justice. ‘Always Investigating’ has the story.

Somebody killed Kimberly Belluomini in her Maui home back in the year 2000. It took nearly two decades to make an arrest in that case, and prosecutors indicted Anthony Moreno, who has been awaiting trial since 2019. Today the case was dismissed.

“It was one of the judge’s findings that all the evidence that they had and that they needed, they essentially had back in 2001,” explained defense attorney, Matthew Nardi. “And then because of the delay, there were at least five or six different witnesses all of whom the judge found would be very beneficial for the defense and showing Mr. Moreno’s innocence have since passed.”

The case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning prosecutors would not be allowed to refile an indictment or recharge. They’re only recourse would be to appeal the dismissal to a higher court.

“We’re going to come back to this in the next couple of weeks,” said Andrew Martin, the prosecutor arguing the case for Maui County, “start taking a look at our options for appeal, and then of course, sit down with the family and talk with them about what that would mean and is that something that they want to move forward with this as well.”

It’s a remarkable turn of events in a high-profile murder case.

“It’s not very often or common that murder cases get dismissed, especially dismissed with prejudice, doesn’t happen often in Hawaii or anywhere else, for that matter,” said defense attorney, Gina Gormley.

The victim’s brother told KHON2 that he’s upset the family won’t have justice, a sentiment even defense attorneys said they understand.

“It’s kind of like they had to grieve it, grieve the death of their family member a second time or maybe even a third time, and it’s really sad,” Gormley said, “And then also to not be able to know what actually happened, I think is very unfortunate for the family.”

But for the man who now won’t stand trial as originally scheduled for next week, justice was served.

“He was overcome with joy,” Nardi said of Moreno. “When the judge made the ruling, he immediately just began weeping. And he was really unable to even communicate, just with excitement after having been incarcerated for three years.”

So the question remains, where is the killer?

“I think we have the right guy,” Martin said. “The facts and circumstances surrounding the case, looking at it in its totality, the DNA evidence we had. Obviously, the defense had another theory, a couple different theories. But from the start, both myself and the detective who picked up the case in late 2017 felt very strongly that Mr. Moreno was responsible.”

Maui Police Department declined to comment.