By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Neighbor Island Editor
A thorough excavation of the back yard of a Nanawale residence outside Pahoa on the Big Island failed to turn up any clues to the fate of Peter Boy Kema, who disappeared in 1997 when he was 6.
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| Peter Boy Kema was an abused youngster who disappeared in 1997 when he was 6. |
The digging took place Jan. 31 through Feb. 2 after police obtained a search warrant for the property where the Kema family lived at the time the boy went missing. He is presumed dead.
The parents, Peter Sr. and Jaylin Kema, have been questioned by police, but there have been no arrests in the case.
Police and workers from the Army’s Central Identification Lab in Honolulu used shovels and screens to search for evidence, said Capt. James Day of the Hilo Criminal Investigation Division. He said no evidence, including human remains, was recovered from the yard.
The search did not stem from any discovery of new information in the case, Day said.
Hawai‘i County Prosecutor Jay Kimura said the case remains under "active investigation." He would not comment further.
Police and state social workers have been unable to determine Peter Boy’s fate since April 1997. Peter Kema Sr. claims he took his son to Honolulu and turned him over to a woman named Auntie Rose Makuakane. Authorities have not been able to confirm the woman’s existence and are now treating the boy’s disappearance as a murder.
Family Court records show that Peter Boy had been a victim of repeated child abuse.
Last July, Big Island police turned over four boxes of reports on the case to prosecutors.
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