Neighbor says Kema family
By Rod Thompson
lives a quiet life
Star-BulletinHILO -- The Kema family, whose 7-year-old son Peter Jr. has been missing for a year, is quiet, a neighbor says.
But the family, now under investigation by police and the FBI, has had its brushes with the law.
Soon after neighbor Ibonet Pinochet and her mother-in-law Lucila Villaroel moved near the Kemas in June, police and social workers went to the Kema house and stayed several hours, Pinochet said.
Police have come other times and the FBI questioned Pinochet about the situation a week ago, she said.
Police Capt. Morton Carter also confirmed that the FBI is now involved in the case, and said police also are continuing their investigation into Peter Jr.'s disappearance.
Carter says the senior Kema has a history of arrests, but details were not immediately available.
Yesterday, a man at the Kema house threatened a Star-Bulletin reporter who was talking with the neighbor.
Also yesterday, state Child Protective Services took custody of Peter Jr.'s two siblings, said Henry Ku, CPS administrative assistant.
And a statement from Family Court Judge Ben Gaddis said a child abuse investigation in 1991 when Peter Jr. was 4 months old found the boy had a fractured left leg and older fractures.
Another report in April 1997 said the boy might have suffered a broken arm, Gaddis said.
But when state Child Protective Services workers tried to check out the injury, the father told workers the boy was staying with "Auntie Rose Makuakane" in Honolulu.
Police have been unable to find Makuakane or the boy.
Police said they received notice of the possible injury June 17 and a missing person report Jan. 8.
Pinochet said she moved into the house across from the Kemas last June after arriving from Chile. Villaroel said she moved into the house about seven months ago.
Both said they had never heard any loud noises from the Kema house. They have only seen three children, all of whom are well-behaved, Villaroel said.
The oldest boy goes to school at nearby Kaumana Elementary School and plays with her son, Pinochet said.
She described him as pleasant and cute. "My son hasn't found anything strange (about him)," she said.
The boy's father won't let him go into Villaroel and Pinochet's house, Pinochet said.
Villaroel said the other two children never leave their house to play, only to drive away with their parents.
The mother, identified by police as Jaylin Kema, 28, and her 4-year-old girl brought cookies at Christmas, said Villaroel.
"The little girl came and gave me a kiss on the face," said Villaroel, who sits in front of her house in a wheelchair and is called "abuela" -- grandmother -- by the neighborhood children.
