But buried in 2,000 pages of recently opened confidential Child Welfare Services records is a surprising reference to an August 1997 return flight to Hilo with Kema's wife's name on it. For years, Jaylin Kema has said only that her husband took the child to O'ahu. And Peter Kema Sr. has never said or indicated that he traveled that summer with anyone else except the boy.

The plane ticket is one of several inconsistencies revealed by the files that remain unanswered, pieces to a complex puzzle that do not quite fit.

Neither Peter Kema Sr. nor Jaylin Kema could be reached directly to comment for this story. Peter Kema Sr.'s attorney, Steven Strauss, did not return calls for comment. Jaylin Kema's attorney, Harry Eliason, said his client was not interested in commenting. But Eliason said inconsistent statements are a part of human nature.

"You really wonder when they are wonderfully consistent," he said. "You really should be suspicious because at that point you know it has been studied."

The discrepancies are known to the Hawai'i County prosecutor's office, which has spent the past five years reviewing the Big Island Police Department's final report on the case. Police have classified Peter Boy's disappearance as a murder investigation and in recent weeks have begun to re-interview people in the case.

"Any time people make contradictory statements I think it hurts credibility," said Mike Kagami, the deputy prosecutor assigned to the Peter Boy case. "It is one thing people look at when they are deciding whether people are telling the truth. Is the story consistent?"

But people mix up dates all the time without intending to mislead, said Kagami, who did not want to discuss the case in specific details.

Even a string of inconsistencies about when Peter Boy was last seen or who flew to O'ahu does not prove that the child was harmed, he said.

"If you look at it by itself, it doesn't mean anything," he said. "It just depends what other facts are out there that make it important."

The child welfare documents offer a chronology of statements by the Kemas, all of which are included in the case notes and reports released to the public.

Initially, social workers did not appear overly alarmed when they first interviewed the Kemas in July 1997. But Peter Boy, who would have turned 6 a few weeks earlier, was not present at a family appointment.

In a July 7, 1997, interview with a social worker, Peter Kema Sr. and Jaylin said that Peter Boy was with "a paternal aunt and uncle until mid-August 1997." Both stressed that the child was "on vacation."

The social worker and the Kemas agreed to meet again on Aug. 15, 1997, so that authorities could be sure the boy was OK. But that day was a holiday and state offices were closed. A social worker then visited the Kema home on Aug. 19, 1997. There were cars in the driveway and the clothes dryer was running but no one answered a knock at the door.

Six months after their last interview with the Kemas, a social worker, accompanied by a police officer, finally contacted Jaylin Kema on Jan. 9, 1998. Jaylin Kema could not answer questions about Peter Boy's whereabouts. When pushed, she agreed to file a missing person report.

"My husband knows where Peter is," she told them. "He is with his friend. I don't know his friend's name or address or phone number."

She said the last time she saw the child was August 1997, but for the first time in the files, says she saw him on O'ahu.

The child had not been seen by other family members now for more than a year.

On Jan. 21, 1998, Jaylin Kema was interviewed by a police officer and a social worker. She told them that she did not know until the previous day that her husband had given the boy to Makuakane.

Again, Jaylin Kema stressed that the last time she saw Peter Boy was in August 1997, but did not specifically state where she saw him.

"He was in good health," Jaylin said through tears. "I have no idea what is happening. ... No, I don't know Auntie Rose. I thought he left the boy with a family, with going to school there."

She also said she and her husband had separated on Christmas Day.

In February 1998, police and social workers interviewed Jaylin Kema while Peter Kema Sr. waited in another room. When it was his turn to be questioned, however, Peter Kema Sr. said he needed to leave because he had "chest pains."

Everyone met again on March 9, 1998. Peter Kema Sr. told authorities that he and his wife separated in August 1997 and that he flew to O'ahu with Peter Boy. The two of them slept in A'ala Park and also in a tent with 18 people.

The elder Kema also told authorities about his family's history with Makuakane, a woman he knew for two weeks but had not seen since 1982. The next time he saw Makuakane was during his trip to O'ahu; he told authorities that was in September 1997. He found her selling lauhala hats for $5 each.

He remembered several details about the encounter — what Makuakane was wearing, that her hair was in a ponytail, that it was hot that day.

"After one week I gave Peter Jr. to her," he said. "Money running out. I told myself, 'I can't feed him good. This is no place for a child.' "

He wrote a custody note for Auntie Rose, copied it at a 7-Eleven convenience store, and kept the original, the elder Kema told authorities.

He said he asked Peter Boy if he wanted to go with Makuakane.

"He said yes," Peter Kema Sr. said.

For the next five days, the father said he watched his son and Makuakane to see how they got along. She told him she was moving to the Mainland, possibly Florida.

The Kemas were summoned to a Family Court hearing on March 23, 1998, along with social workers and police. The judge peppered the Kemas with questions about Makuakane, clearly unhappy.

"You all get the idea of the seriousness of this," he told them. "It's unexplained absence."

At the hearing, Jaylin Kema also told the judge she had not been to O'ahu since 1976. A few weeks later, though, on April 21, 1998, authorities discussed the plane ticket from Honolulu to Hilo with her name on it.

"The plane ticket shows there were three people who went from Honolulu to Hilo on August 1997 ... Peter Sr., Jaylin and a third person, unnamed at this time," according to a progress report filed after the meeting.

At the same meeting, the police note that Peter Kema Sr. had stated that he first traveled to O'ahu in June 1997.

They conclude that more investigation is needed. The next day, April 22, 1998, police interview the Kemas.

Once more, Jaylin Kema described the last day she saw her son but this time gave authorities a specific date — Aug. 15, 1997. He had been brought from O'ahu by his father so the family could meet with social workers that same day — the holiday the office was closed.

Peter Boy looked "happy," she said.

Jaylin Kema said Peter Boy and his father left for O'ahu the next day. The elder Kema returned to the Big Island at the end of September, she said, but without the boy.

At the same April 22, 1998, interview, Peter Kema Sr. gave authorities a different date for the last day he saw his son. He told them he last saw Peter Boy on Aug. 19, 1997, in 'A'ala Park and that the child was with Makuakane. He also said he gave Makuakane his handwritten custody letter on that same date.

At this point in the interview, the social worker showed Peter Kema Sr. the custody note — which he agreed is the same one he wrote — and asked why the date on the note is Sept. 11, 1997, not Aug. 19, 1997.

The elder Kema had no explanation.