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Mother Of Pregnant Calif. Woman Killed In Hawaii Points To Clues In Anonymous Letter

TUSTIN (CBSLA.com) — The mother of a pregnant California woman killed in Hawaii this year believes her daughter and the woman's boyfriend were targeted in a murder plot.

Brittany Royal, 25, was found strangled in waters off a bay near a lava viewing area on Hawaii's Big Island in May.

Police initially called her boyfriend, Boaz Johnson, of Petersburg, Alaska, a suspect.

Seven months later, he has not turned up. Now, the woman's mother says she believes clues in an anonymous letter received by a reporter in Hawaii could help investigators with the case.

Julie Royal says the author writes of a "big mistake" in the threatening letter, addressed to Johnson.

She believes the author was referring to a land deal in the famous Kalapana lava flow area that Bo Johnson was about to make.

He planned to run lava tours, but the author says Johnson refused to pay a competitor $1,000 a week. Julie Royal believes that cost Johnson and her daughter their lives.

"I want whoever it is to come to justice and to pay," she told CBS2's Stacey Butler.

Police in Hawaii have declined to release further details about the investigation.

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