They wanted ‘to help her’

Daryl Whitcher and his 17-year-old son Thomas are the best kind of heroes, because they don’t think what they did was anything special.

Whitcher, 43, a land surveyor from Salinas, Calif., had just sat down with his son and his wife Debbie, 44, at Keoki’s Paradise restaurant in Po`ipu for lunch last Friday afternoon when he saw a man approaching their waitress, Michelle Ramos, 26.

The man, identified later by police as 32-year-old Ryan Masumoto, was armed with a knife.

“I saw him come in the door. Saw the knife in his hand.

Flashed that it was a joke or something…She was facing us…He pulled her down and started stabbing her,’ Whitcher said.

“All I really remember is that he pulled her back and her hair covered her face,” Thomas Whitcher said.

Daryl Whitcher and his son jumped up and used chairs to try and force Masumoto off Ramos. The elder Whitcher, in “lion-tamer fashion,” moved the assailant a few feet from his ex-girl friend (Ramos and Masumoto had been together for four years and had a 1-year-old child together).

But Masumoto struggled, still swinging his knife, and when Whitcher slipped in the blood on the floor and fell, the murderer jumped back onto his victim.

Finally, after a kitchen employee of the restaurant joined in, the trio managed to force Masumoto off Ramos and out the door.

The Whitchers followed Masumoto outside. They said Masumoto jumped in a tan sedan.

The elder Whitcher said he reached through the driver-side window of the car and punched Masumoto, “a good shot,” while Thomas Whitcher shattered the getaway car’s windshield with his chair.

But Masumoto managed to drive away.

Debbie Whitcher was inside the restaurant with the bloodied Ramos, who was pronounced dead an hour later at Wilcox Memorial Hospital.

Kaua’i Police said the victim was stabbed 17 times.

Police said that after the attack, Masumoto drove to his parents’ home in Koloa, took a family vehicle and drove to Kaumakani Beach, where he hanged himself.

The Whitchers told their stories at a press conference Tuesday arranged by Kaua’i County authorities.

Police chief George Freitas presented Daryl and Thomas Whitcher with certificates of appreciation for their efforts in trying to stop the murder.

The Whitcher family, who had landed on Kaua`i for a vacation only an hour before the stabbing, were accompanied by their 15-year-old daughter, Chrissy. But she had decided not to go to lunch.

When asked why he’d risked his own safety for a perfect stranger, Daryl Whitcher said simply, “To help her.” “When a friend of yours dies, you have a wealth of memories. But with Michelle we had none of that, just the horrific events that led to her death,” he added.

Thomas Whitcher agreed with his father.

Daryl Whitcher said he and his wife were members of the National Ski Patrol for nearly 20 years.

“We’ve seen trauma.

We’ve done ER (hospital emergency room) work. The violence is the aspect of this we’re not quite used to,” he noted.

Police Lt. Bill Ching, who handled the brief murder investigation, commended the Whitchers’ bravery.

Ching also commented on speculation that Masumoto was on drugs during the incident.

“We understand that he was at the restaurant trying to borrow money from her (Ramos) earlier. She made a comment to a co-worker that it was for drugs. Toxicology tests are being conducted, and we expect an answer next week” on whether the killer was high under the influence, Ching said.

Although police would not comment on whether the killer had a previous criminal record, chief inspector Melvin Morris reiterated that there had been domestic violence complaints during the couple’s relationship. And Ramos’ friends and family said she was trying to break away from her allegedly abusive boyfriend at the time of her death.

Ramos had worked at Keoki’s Paradise as a server for three months, according to restaurant management.

Masumoto was unemployed.

Grandparents have the couple’s infant child.

Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and [dwilken@pulitzer.net]