Homeless man's quest ends in death at airport
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Staff Writer
William Demacose said he just wanted to go home to see his sister. He never made it.
The 81-year-old homeless man befriended by airport security guards died yesterday in Honolulu, less than 36 hours after he flew to Los Angeles to meet a sister he hadn't seen in years.
Some of the security guards who on Monday helped Demacose buy his ticket and get cleaned up for the flight were surprised to see him collapsed in a bathroom at Honolulu International Airport yesterday morning. He died a short time later, apparently of natural causes, officials said.
"He just kept saying he wanted to go home," said William Fonoti, one of the guards who helped him. "Now, I think I understand what he was trying to tell us."
Demacose, described by relatives in Honolulu as a lifelong loner who did not like to impose on people, became confused or scared in Los Angeles and immediately bought a ticket back to Hawai'i, according to Angela Scott, a lieutenant for Akal Security.
The sister he wanted to see in Monterey, Calif., was on a trip to Las Vegas at the time, family members said. They did not know if he tried to call her from Los Angeles.
Demacose returned Tuesday night to Honolulu, where guards found him wandering in the same area of the airport he had been repeatedly chased from in recent weeks. By early yesterday, Demacose had changed his mind again and bought another one-way ticket to California, using cash that he kept hidden in his jacket collar. He died before he could board the 1 p.m. flight back to California.
"We're just kind of floored. We never thought the story would end this way," Scott said.
Such indecision is not uncommon in elderly homeless people, said Lynn Maunakea, head of the Institute for Human Services homeless shelter in Iwilei.
"Sometimes when they get old and sick, they want to reconnect with their family, to make their peace," she said. "But when you have drifted apart from your past, reconnecting has got to be a very frightening thing. There's a real push-pull: You want to make final peace — and yet. ..."
Surviving nieces and nephews in Honolulu said Demacose had always been independent.
Born on Moloka'i and never married, Demacose worked in O'ahu's canneries and at Pearl Harbor and then drove a taxicab in Honolulu for many years.
"He was always a loner," said his nephew, Raymond Malunao. "I saw him at a funeral a couple of years ago and he wouldn't even take a ride afterward. He said he'd rather catch the bus."
"He would never ask for anything," added Demacose's niece, Marion Ioane, at whose home Demacose stayed when he was ill a few years ago. "After that, he just wanted to get back on his own."
Demacose lost his Honolulu home several years ago and lived on the streets since, even though he seemed to have plenty of money from Social Security checks he received regularly. Security guards at the airport said they found evidence that he had spent almost $2,000 on plane tickets in the past few days.
"It's not highly unusual for a homeless person to carry around a lot of cash," said Deborah Smith, crisis case manager for the group Safe Haven, which helped Demacose receive some badly needed dental work this past summer. "They don't trust banks and often prefer to keep their money hidden on them."
Smith said Demacose was living in Ala Moana Beach Park when she first met him.
"He seemed like a nice guy who was pretty well grounded," Smith said. "He wasn't the kind of guy to get in your face, but he did seem a little afraid of people until you got to know him."
He told her that he sent part of his monthly Social Security to his sister on the Mainland, his only surviving sibling.
That's who he was trying to reach this week when he went to the airport and was helped by the same security guards who had been chasing him away.
"I think now that maybe he knew he was sick," Fonoti said. "That's what he was trying to tell us when he said he wanted to go home."
Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.
