Triple-Murder Suspect Surrenders After Seeing His Story on TV

KAUNAKAKAI, Hawaii (AP) _ Edward Zakrzewski was watching television with the family of a minister who befriended him when ″Unsolved Mysteries″ reported the case of a man accused of killing his wife and two children.

″This guy looks like you,″ the minister said to Zakrzewski, who only laughed.

The exchange took place Friday night. The next day, Zakrzewski surrendered to police on Molokai Island in connection with the slayings, Detective Mervin Holokai said.

Zakrzewski was accused of using a machete to kill his wife, Sylvia, and two children, Edward Jr. and Anne. Their bodies were found June 13 in Mary Ester, Fla., police said. At the time, Zakrzewski was an Air Force technical sergeant at Elgin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, Fla.

The minister, whom police refused to identify, had allowed Zakrzewski to stay in a shack for about four months in return for performing maintenance work, Holokai said.

″The minister didn’t know about his past,″ Holokai said. ″When he came here, the man had no place to go.″

The minister and his family decided not to confront Zakrzewski until the morning after they discovered his past, Lt. Lenie Lawrence said.

″They didn’t want to push it,″ he said.

But by the time the family awoke Saturday, Zakrzewski had already left to surrender, Lawrence said.

″They weren’t in fear,″ Lawrence said. ″I guess they felt sorry for him. They wanted him to come clean. Last night (Saturday), they visited and brought him his backpack and some other belongings.″

″Living with the minister turned his life around and made him do the right thing,″ Holokai said.

Zakrzewski was taken to Maui Island, where an extradition hearing was scheduled for today.