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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Monday, May 23, 2005

Family spats surround missing Pahoa man

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

PAHOA, Hawai'i — Daniel "Danny" De Simone, 46, is mentally disabled, but independent. He can catch the county bus for the 23-mile trip from his Puna home to Hilo, and once surprised a friend by making his way alone from an O'ahu hotel to Manoa for a meeting.

Danny De Simone was living with his mother, Mary Nelson, on the Big Island when he disappeared last month. He is used to getting around by himself, and his family and friends doubt he lost his way.

Mary Nelson

Friends and family describe him as a sweet guy, and also say he has some street smarts. They say it's difficult to imagine that Danny could still be lost more than month after he was last seen April 19.

His family suspects something terrible has happened to him.

"There's nothing I would love more than to be wrong and have Danny walk out of wherever he is and say, 'Here I am.' I would love to be wrong, but it's all too fishy," said Danny's younger sister, Terri De Simone, in a telephone interview from her home in New Hampshire.

Deepening the mystery of De Simone's disappearance was the May 10 arrest of his brother, Stephen De Simone, 41, and his mother, Mary Nelson, 64, with whom he shares a Nanawale Estates home, outside of Pahoa Village. A police affidavit filed in Hilo District Court said Nelson repeatedly refused to let police into the family home to search for clues to Danny's whereabouts, and alleges the woman used her missing son's electronic benefit card to tap into his food stamp allocation after he disappeared.

Nelson was not charged, and on Friday said the accusation against her is absurd because she and Danny always shopped together, buying food for the household. "I was his caregiver for more than 40 years," she said.

Where is Danny?

Anyone with information about Daniel "Danny" De Simone, who has been missing since April 19, is asked to call the police nonemergency number at 935-3311. He is 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighs about 170 pounds and has blue eyes and balding brown hair.

Stephen De Simone has been charged with first-degree terroristic threatening and hasn't been able to post the $1,000 bail. As of Friday, he remained confined at the Hawai'i Community Correctional Center.

Police allege Stephen De Simone, who served three years in prison in North Carolina for robbery, barricaded himself in the family's home on May 10 and threatened police who arrived with a search warrant. According to court records, he allegedly posted signs outside indicating there were bombs on the property.

Nelson and Stephen De Simone are bitterly critical of the way police have handled Danny's disappearance and say they no longer trust investigators.

Hawai'i County Police Department spokesman Buck Donham said police issued a news release the day after De Simone was reported missing, asking for the public's help in locating the man. Fliers were given to police in Puna and Hilo to use as they checked various neighborhoods for the missing man.

Police also joined in a May 1 search by about two dozen volunteers, and Capt. Chad Fukui said officers have been following up on reports that De Simone has been sighted around Puna since April 19. So far, none of the sightings has been confirmed, he said.

Terri De Simone said she cannot understand why her mother and brother are quarreling with police, and suggested they may know more about Danny's disappearance than they are telling investigators.

Nelson told a reporter Friday that Danny left the house on April 19 to collect cans to redeem for cash, something he liked to do. But on April 20, according to court records, she told police that he "stormed out" of the house because he was angry about some upcoming dental work that he feared would be painful.

On April 28, the woman told police a different story, that Danny left in a huff after Stephen De Simone told him a "beautiful Hawaiian social worker" was coming to the house. Danny got dressed up and waited, she said, then left angrily when he realized his brother was lying.

The oldest of eight children, Danny De Simone was born at Tripler Army Medical Center with "arrested hydrocephalus," better known as water on the brain. His mother said he has the mentality of a 12-year-old and also suffers from autism, although Nelson said his abilities have been improving in recent years.

He was educated in Dracut, Mass., and moved to Hawai'i with his mother in 1988. For a few years he lived without his mother under the supervision of the adult mental health system on O'ahu, but he rejoined her on the Big Island about 10 years ago, Nelson said.

Kevin Dierks came to know De Simone through the Community Personal Assistance Services and Supports program at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa. Dierks, a project trainer with the program, described Danny as outgoing and friendly, and eager to launch his own business.

De Simone's sister, Terri, said her brother has "beautiful blue eyes" and is an energetic worker who held jobs at various times with Goodwill Industries, as a restaurant busboy and operating his own newspaper route.

De Simone was a familiar sight in his neighborhood in Massachusetts, where he would ride his bike in search of cans and bottles that he could cash in for money, his sister said. He continued the practice in Pahoa, asking area businesses for permission to search their trash for drink containers.

Terri De Simone said it is unlike Danny to leave home without his prized possessions, which include a fanny pack he took everywhere and a roomful of "treasures" he had collected that include crayons and toy cars.

If he were simply moving out, "he'd box them up or have somebody come back for them right away," she said.

De Simone chain-smokes cigarettes, and while he is gentle and slow to anger, he would fight if he were attacked, she said.

Nelson, who claims to be a psychic, said she has had visions or dreams on three occasions that Danny was beaten and that the left side of his face was bashed in. She said her son is a strong man, and that if he was attacked by thugs, it would have taken several people to overpower him.

According to an affidavit police filed in Hilo District Court, Nelson told police on April 21 that "Danny was not a missing person, and that we should start looking for him in lava tubes."

Nelson said she is hoping her son will return safely, but has prepared herself for the worst. "I can sense, I can feel it very strongly, that this is just beginning," she said.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.