Forensic Transmissions Episode 28: Fiona Wais testimony, Steven Capobianco Trial
This episode features testimony in the trial of Steven Capobianco, 30, for the murder in Hawaii of Carly “Charli” Scott, his 27-year-old ex-girlfriend who was five months pregnant with their child when she went missing in February of 2014. Capobianco pleaded not guilty to the charges in the trial, which took place in July of 2014.
Charli met Steven Capobianco in 2009. She fell in love, and Steven invited her to live with him, but during the two years the couple lived together, according to the prosecution, “the defendant would tell his friends that they were just roommates and he did not like to take pictures with her.”
After Steven broke up with her, Charli continued to love him, even though she knew he didn’t care about her. It was after they had broken up, and when Steven had a new girlfriend, that he got Charli pregnant.
Charli’s mother testified that on Monday, Feb. 10, 2014, she went to check on her daughter at her home in Makawao, Hawaii, and noticed that one of Charli’s dogs was in the home and had urinated and defecated inside. Charli’s other dog, Nala, was missing.
Charli had three sisters, Brooke, Fiona, and Phaedra, who all testified in the trial. Her two younger sisters, Fiona and Phaedra often stayed at the home Charli shared with Steven to spend more time with their sister. When Charli went missing, Fiona was 16 and Phaedra 13. The girls found evidence of her remains in a nearby forest, along with the burned-out shell of her car.
In her trial testimony, Fiona relates how Charli announced her pregnancy to her family, how Steven had insisted that she get an abortion, and Charli’s refusal to do so. After learning that her sister was pregnant, Fiona says that she contacted Capobianco to ask him questions. He replied by saying that, “I thought she took care of it.” Fiona told him that Charli was having the baby.
Fiona also said that Charli did not get along with their stepfather, and at the time of her disappearance, she was not allowed at her mother and stepfather’s home. Later, when Charli went missing, Fiona told the jury that Steven had said, “I have a hypothesis that Charli could have picked up a hitchhiker,” adding, “It didn’t make sense to me, because the story that I had heard repeatedly was that Steven’s car was having problems, and when they were last seen, he was driving down the road in front of Charli to make sure that his vehicle didn’t break down again.”