Book not closed on two missing seniors
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
In the past three years, Honolulu police have investigated 350 cases involving missing people 65 years or older and resolved all but two. Masayuki Kubo and Rose Gordon, both of whom have Alzheimer's disease, have not been found.
Kubo wandered away from his Imperial Plaza condominium on Kapi'olani Boulevard on June 23, 2001, and Gordon, a Waipahu resident, has not been seen since Aug. 30, 2003. At the time of their disappearances, Kubo was 80 years old and Gordon 89.
Masayuki Kubo
Rose Gordon
Police will check out any new leads, said HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu. "It gets harder as time passes but there's always hope," Yu said.
Police interviewed people around Kubo's residence and checked out places he liked to visit for several days after his disappearance.
Family and friends organized a ground search, which lasted a month, and posted fliers around town. In July 2001, nearly a month after his disappearance, police Specialized Services Division officers searched in Waikiki and downtown for Kubo after reported sightings.
The active search for Kubo, though not on consecutive days, lasted into August 2001 when reports of sightings ceased.
Police did ground and helicopter searches for Gordon after her disappearance but because of a pending complaint in the case refuse to say how long the search lasted.
Gordon's daughter, Norma DeCosta of Waipahu, sent a grievance letter to various state and county agencies and officials asking that HPD conduct a more extensive search of Navy property on the Waipi'o Point peninsula where her mother was last seen.
"It's an area 3 miles by 6 miles and we don't have the manpower or resources to do it ourselves," DeCosta said. "I think searches have covered less than one-tenth of the area."
To do a complete ground search requires Navy permission and the request must come from HPD for the Navy to consider it, DeCosta said. "(A thorough search) would at least give us some closure," she said.
Yu said HPD is aware of DeCosta's letter but declined further comment.
DeCosta said her 71-year-old brother-in-law, Douglas DeCosta, and mother were collecting aluminum cans in Waipahu last Aug. 30 and she saw them at a bus stop eating lunch together when she checked on them. At about 2:30 p.m., her mother decided to hike into the brush, telling Douglas DeCosta she was going to her son's house, said Norma DeCosta.
Douglas DeCosta followed Gordon until he got tired and sat down to rest. Exhausted, he fell asleep for about six hours. It was dark and there was no trail but Douglas DeCosta managed to find his way out and returned home at 4:30 a.m.
Gordon wandered into the brush at Waipi'o Point peninsula between 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. Aug. 30. Gordon was reported missing to police on Aug. 30 and her daughter called police again on Aug. 31 when a family member who had been with Gordon in the brush found his way back home.
It was not the first time she had wandered off. Gordon had been reported missing to police several times in the previous year but had been found each time.
According to DeCosta, an HPD Missing Persons Unit officer searched for Gordon without calling in additional resources and on Sept. 3 a helicopter was brought into the search. At the request of a family member, the Navy conducted a search on Dec. 20.
There has been no active search for Gordon since December.
Janet Eli, executive director of the Alzheimer's Association's Hawai'i chapter, said people with dementia or Alzheimer's who wander off can be difficult to find.
"They are not able to say, 'I'm lost,' or 'This is my name and where I live,' " Eli said. "They may look like a homeless person or be making sounds because they are unable to verbalize."
They're vulnerable because of those factors, Eli said.
As part of its Safe Return program, the Alzheimer's Association recommends that families of someone who has wandered off conduct a search of the immediate area where the person disappeared before calling police, Eli said. For further information on the Safe Return program, call (800) 272-3900.
Also, anyone with information about Kubo or Gordon should call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or HPD's Criminal Investigation Division at 529-3115.
Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.
Correction: Information in about when Rose Gordon was reported missing was incorrect in a previous version of this story.
