LIHU'E, Kaua'i — A 53-year-old mother and grandmother was stabbed to death in her Lihu'e home one day after she quit her part-time hotel maid job "for family reasons."

Kaua'i police arrested Joseph Hoapili, 50, on a second-degree murder charge early yesterday in the death of his wife, Fredlynn Hoapili.

Hoapili is being held on $500,000 bail. Kaua'i police records show Hoapili has been arrested 14 times and that officers had been called to the Hoapili residence or other locations to respond to four reports of of family abuse and one second-degree assault.

Police wouldn't release details of those cases yesterday, but confirmed that Joseph Hoapili was the alleged aggressor.

"It's a sad situation for the family members," Kaua'i Police Chief Darryl Perry said. "We're doing everything we can to investigate and bring this case to justice."

Neighbor Peter Berton said he was awakened "about 12:30 a.m." by a male voice yelling: "Stop stabbing her! She's dead already!"

Berton said he believes the speaker was the Hoapilis' son, who lives with them in one of six apartments inside single-story, wooden houses in downtown Lihu'e. The small complex is at the end of a short, mostly commercial street, across from Lihue Christian Church and a few doors from the popular Hamura's Saimin Stand.

Police said they were called to 2926 Kress St. about 1 a.m. and that Fredlynn Hoapili was taken to Wilcox Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

"She was one of the nice people who died," Berton said. "Her husband appeared very demanding."

The Hoapilis lived in their ground-floor apartment for several months, after moving from the Kaua'i Palms Hotel immediately next door, hotel bookkeeper Gloria Purter said.

"They were really happy when they got the place next door," Purter said, because it had more room than the $75-a-night hotel room and the couple had at least two grandchildren living with them.

"Everyone (at the Kaua'i Palms) knew both of them," front desk clerk Amelia Duaosan said. "The husband was very jovial most of the time."

Duaosan and Purter said they don't believe the Hoapilis' grandchildren were home when Fredlynn died.

Fredlynn Hoapili had a weekday job with Akita Enterprises, a company that provides bus service for Kaua'i schools, and helped clean the 28-room hotel on weekends, and Joe Hoapili worked in construction, hotel employees said.

Kaua'i Palms co-workers were surprised when Fredlynn called in sick last weekend, Purter said.

"She never called in sick," she said.

Then, on Monday, Fredlynn Hoapili quit her Kaua'i Palms job.

"She said it was nothing about the job, that it was family problems," Purter said. "I had no idea it was this bad. ... It seems so senseless."

When Kaua'i Palms maid Melissa Copeland heard on Monday that Fredlynn had quit, she and two other hotel workers went to her apartment to talk to her.

"While we were there, she didn't seem like herself ... she looked scared," Copeland said. "She kept looking at us and looking at Joe."

Joe also seemed "not himself" either, Copeland said, barely acknowledging people he usually greeted by name.

The co-workers said Fredlynn had told them that Joe had been involved with drugs, but had quit.

Police took a blood sample from Joseph Hoapili to check for alcohol and drugs, but results were not available yesterday, Perry said.

Kaua'i police records show Joseph Hoapili has four criminal convictions. They are: promotion of a dangerous drug, a class C felony, on July 24, 2008; a disorderly conduct violation on Dec. 12, 2000; misdemeanor theft on Sept. 14, 1998; and misdemeanor criminal contempt of court, on March 6, 1998.

Details about those cases weren't available yesterday.