By all accounts Abraham "A.J." Cabral was a healthy, happy kid who was working to build a future while studying for his GED.

Cabral, 18, an avid fisherman who enjoyed the beach, was found dead yesterday, his body floating in Lake Wilson in Wahiawa.

Rarely did Cabral stray far from home or do anything outside of the circle of family and friends who lived in a block of homes in Wahiawa, his mother, Lori Bernard, said yesterday.

He worked five days a week and went to school on Tuesday and Thursday nights.

All the reason his sudden disappearance Nov. 1 and the revelation of his death yesterday are hard to take, Bernard said.

"He didn't have any kind of a beef with anyone; he was a happy person," said Bernard. "I don't want to believe there are malicious people out there, but I don't see how, if he was hurt, no one would help him. He knows this area and everybody knows him. He never left home. He was a hard-working, good boy."

The morning he disappeared, Cabral put a load of work clothes into the washing machine, his mother said. He said he was going next door to visit his best friend, then to the store.

"He said, 'I'll be back,' " Bernard said.

When Cabral didn't return home, Bernard went next door to talk to his best friend.

He was not home, but Bernard spoke with his friend's girlfriend, who said Cabral walked to the store after learning his friend was not home.

For the last 11 days, Bernard and her family have received calls from people who say they saw Cabral.

Bernard said she knew none of the reports were true because her son was not the type to leave home for long without making contact.

Initial reports that her son suffered a seizure and may be disoriented were not true, she said, because her son had no pre-existing medical condition.

More than a dozen family and friends had searched the Lake Wilson area recently, Bernard said. People looked through bushes on the lake's islands and took a boat out on the water.

When Cabral's body was brought ashore yesterday, his wallet was in his pocket.

An autopsy is to be performed tomorrow at the city medical examiner's office.

Police have classified Cabral's an unattended death, pending the results of the autopsy and an investigation by homicide detectives.

"We're just trying to be strong," said Bernard. "We know we found him, and we have to remember the good things about him and not the events leading up to this. Now we have to figure out why he was in the lake, and what happened."

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.