Peter Boy's life
Advertiser Staff
May 1, 1991: Peter Kema Jr., known as "Peter Boy," is born to Jaylin and Peter Kema Sr.
May 8, 1991: Social workers with the state Department of Human Services receive a report that Peter Boy's two older half-siblings had been abused. The children are placed in the care of Jaylin Kema's parents, Yolanda and James Acol of Kona.
June 1991: The children are returned to their parents under supervision of social workers.
Aug. 12, 1991: Social workers receive a report that Peter Boy, 3 months old, had suffered a spiral fracture of his left leg, and of evidence of older fractures. The children again are taken away.
July 1994: Social workers return Peter Boy to his parents, and a month later allow visitations with the two older children.
June 1995: The older children are returned to the Kemas by order of Family Court Judge Ben Gaddis.
Oct. 31, 1995: The state closes the case.
Dec. 14, 1996: Some family members last see Peter Boy at the funeral of a relative.
April 4, 1997: Social workers receive a call from a therapist saying that a teenage relative of the Kemas had alleged that Peter Boy had been abused and his arm had been broken.
July 7, 1997: The family arrives at the DHS' offices with three of the children. Peter Boy is not among them. His mother says he is on a vacation with relatives.
Dec. 26, 1997: James Acol tells a social worker of his concern, saying the last time he saw Peter Boy, the child had a black eye and an injured arm.
Jan. 8, 1998: Police say this was when they first received a report from Child Protective Services that Peter Boy had disappeared.
Jan. 9, 1998: Police and a social worker persuade Jaylin Kema to file a missing-person report.
Jan. 21, 1998: Jaylin Kema tells police she had learned that her husband had handed their son "to a lady in 'A'ala Park."
Early February 1998: Police ask the public for help in finding Peter Boy.
April 21, 1998: CPS files a petition to remove the remaining three children from the Kema home. They are placed in foster care.
April 24, 1998: Big Island police detectives take Peter Kema Sr. to 'A'ala Park to retrace his son's last-known steps.
April 27, 1998: Peter Kema Sr. denies that he killed his son.
June 8 or 9, 1998: One of Peter Boy's sisters tells a psychologist that she saw her brother dead in a box that his parents took to Honolulu. However, she also tells the psychologist that her brother is alive in Honolulu.
October 1998: A confidential report filed in Family Court quotes Peter Boy's siblings as saying that the boy was starved, forced to sleep outside and driven around in a locked car trunk.
Jan. 26, 1999: State Auditor Marion Higa criticizes DHS for its handling of child abuse and neglect cases.
February 1999: Family Court awards permanent custody of Peter Boy's half siblings, Allan and Chauntelle, to their biological father, William Collier.
March 1999: Big Island detectives turn over several thousand pages of reports on the Kema case to the prosecutor's office.
April 1999: Peter Boy's half siblings talk of the Kemas' treatment of their brother and themselves. They say Peter Boy bore the brunt of his parents' wrath.
August 1999: Missing Child Center-Hawaii distributes "So where's Peter?" bumper stickers.
March 2000: Lawmakers pass a resolution asking the U.S. Department of Justice and state Attorney General's Office to investigate how Big Island police have handled Peter Boy's case. The youngest Kema child, Devalynn, is adopted by grandparents.
June 2000: Big Island police reclassify the case to a homicide investigation.
April 30, 2005: Lillian Koller, director of the Department of Human Services, releases 23 pages of 2,000 pages being reviewed and redacted for privacy. She says more files will be released.
May 31, 2005: Koller releases the last of the 2,000 pages of documents.
