Authorities in Hawaii were searching Thursday for a suspect described as “extremely dangerous” in connection with the killings of three men on the Big Island this week.

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Officials with the Hawaii Police Department identified the suspect as Jacob Daniel Baker, 36.

Two of the victims were identified as Robert Shine and John Carse, both 69. Authorities were awaiting next-of-kin notification for the third man, who the department said was 79.

All three men were found dead Monday and Tuesday in the Puna District, a large rural area on the island’s east coast.

Autopsies determined that Shine was strangled and Carse died from sharp force trauma, the department said in a news release. The other man was found with what Police Capt. Jeremy Scott Lewis described at a news conference Wednesday as blunt force injuries.

A possible motive remained unclear, and the only known connection between the victims was the close proximity between Shine and the unidentified man, Police Chief Reed Mahuna said at the news conference.

Mahuna said they lived 400 to 500 feet apart.

Mahuna declined to say what evidence led investigators to identify Baker as a suspect. But he said, “We are confident that the suspect here is responsible or involved in all three homicides.”

Baker should be considered armed and “extremely, extremely dangerous,” Lewis said.

Shine was the first man to be found, according to the release. He was discovered Monday night partially submerged in a man-made pond, Lewis said.

Authorities initially believed a medical issue may have been responsible for his death, Lewis said, but an autopsy determined that his death was a homicide.

A neighbor of Shine’s, Jacob Spandl, told NBC affiliate KHNL of Honolulu that he encountered Baker after Shine’s body was recovered.

“He was yelling crazy things,” Spandl told the station. “None of it really made sense, but one of the things that stood out was he screamed ‘Bob’s dead’ about three to four times.”

Shine’s daughter, Anon, described her father to the station as an avid farmer whose death had left her reeling.

“I’m just still really in shock and just going through different waves of emotion and disbelief and sadness,” she said.

The 79-year-old man was found Tuesday afternoon after officers responded to a home in Pāhoa, Lewis said.

Carse was found 19 miles away Tuesday night after a request for a welfare check, Lewis said.

Mahuna said authorities deployed significant resources to the Puna District, where they believe Baker may be.

“If the suspect is watching this, we would like him to contact the police, turn himself in and don’t risk any further harm to anyone else or himself,” he said.