Posted on: Tuesday, March 19, 2002

Missing farmer found dead

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Fire rescue crews yesterday recovered the body of a man who was last seen Saturday as he left to tend to his Kipapa Gulch farm.

Victor Shiroma, 60, was the owner of Shiroma Farms and family members believed he had gone to pick vegetables Saturday. But Shiroma failed to return and his family began to search for him Sunday, said police Detective Joe Self of the missing person's division.

Their search proved futile and the family called the Fire Department at 7:55 yesterday morning. The department conducted a search using a helicopter and crews on foot.

At about 2:30 p.m., firefighters found Shiroma's all-terrain vehicle overturned along the Kipapa Stream bed, said HFD spokesman Capt. Richard Soo. About 175 yards farther down stream Shiroma's body was found amid debris in the middle of the stream.

The body was airlifted by the fire helicopter to the "10-acre Park" on Makaunulau Street in Mililani. There, Shiroma was identified by his brother and brother-in-law.

Soo said it appears that Shiroma was swept away during heavy rains Saturday night. He said the stream was calm yesterday, but there were signs of a hard-rushing stream.

Self classified the case as an unattended death, pending the outcome of an autopsy.