Kaua‘i Police Department investigators this week confirmed that Michael Ebinger, 56, died of a gunshot wound. Ebinger was set to begin his trial Monday afternoon, at the completion of jury selection in the morning. The first witness was scheduled to
Kaua‘i Police Department investigators this week confirmed that Michael Ebinger, 56, died of a gunshot wound.
Ebinger was set to begin his trial Monday afternoon, at the completion of jury selection in the morning.
The first witness was scheduled to testify at 1:30 p.m. It was to be one of the boys Ebinger had threatened with a BB gun and machete in early October.
Ebinger never made it to court. Potential jurists were excused by 11 a.m.
KPD detectives confirmed that day they were investigating the death of a 56-year-old man who died, apparently, of a gunshot wound.
Almost immediately those close to the story speculated it was suicide to avoid a high-profile trial.
Ebinger was facing one charge of wielding a machete and two charges of threatening the boys with a gun, later revealed to be a BB gun.
Ebinger had taken the life of a man at the same beach in 1984.
He was arrested for murder then, but later had the conviction lowered to manslaughter in an appeals court.
Michael’s supporters defended him immediately upon his arrest in October, explaining he was a gentle and caring man.
He was a Vietnam veteran hired piecemeal by various home owners around Secret Beach to keep an eye on their property and to do various jobs.
Apparently Ebinger was protecting the property of Rick Gordon and Eleanor Lyman the day he was arrested for threatening the boys.
The homeowners also came to the defense of Ebinger immediately after his arrest.
He was protecting their property; he had been the victim of theft himself; these kids run rampant down there and he was fed up; they had trashed his cabin and put rubbish on his bed.
Ebinger was rightly upset when he heard two teenage boys were going down a nearby trail — a trail not open to the public.
In his mind, it had to be the teens responsible for all the damage. So he approached them with a machete and a BB gun and threatened them.
Only there was a problem. The boys he confronted were not responsible for the damage. They had only wandered down the wrong trail.
In 1984 Ebinger shot a man at the same beach and hacked him to pieces — as Ebinger explained — to be “humane.” Ebinger meted out his own justice to Stuart Munson then, as Munson was allegedly a drug dealer who had been terrorizing many in the area. Apparently he had set fires as well.
Munson was tried, convicted and executed by Ebinger right there on the spot. It appears the two boys at Secret Beach last October were tried, convicted and … well, who knows. And while it was only a BB gun and a machete he was shaking at those kids, Ebinger died of a gunshot wound.
Police have not determined the death a suicide. Those closest to this incident have expressed in recent days that the portrayal of Ebinger as a cold-blooded murderer led to this final act.
He was misunderstood.
He was not dangerous.
He would have never harmed those kids.
Yet he did harm them. He confronted them. He played judge and jury.
Now those boys will live with the fact that Ebinger once again doled out his own form of justice. He declared himself a victim and pulled the trigger.
