Iris Rodrigues-Kaikana was remembered this afternoon as a spunky, outspoken teen whose bright future will never be realized.
“The hardest part is seeing a beautiful life begin to take shape and then suddenly cut short,” said Zelda Sproat, a Word of Life Christian Center volunteer who mentored Rodrigues-Kaikana. “I don’t know if I’ll ever understand why.”

More than 300 people gathered in the chapel at Borthwick Mortuary in Downtown Honolulu for her services, which included a eulogy by her sisters and songs and dances from the church troupes she was a member of.
“My sister was taken away from me. Why my sister?” said Irene Rodrigues, Rodrigues-Kaikana's older sister. “If she was still here I would tell her how much I love her and thank her for everything she does.”
She closed the eulogy with, “I love you Iris.”
Rodrigues-Kaikana, 18, was a graduate of McKinley High School and worked at the Fort Street Mall McDonald’s. Her nude body was found on the morning of Aug. 24 in a pedestrian alley adjacent to Kamehameha Homes, where she had been visiting a friend.
She had been strangled.
Police have charged Corbit Ahn, 29, in the killing.
Rodrigues-Kaikana was buried this afternoon at Hawaiian Memorial Park in Käneçohe.
She is survived by father, Steven Rodrigues; sisters, Irene, Ira and Ilona; brother, Steven “Ikaika”; grandfather, Antonio “Tony” Rodrigues; grandmother, Alice Kaikana.
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