Maui police detectives are investigating an $8.5 million house fire in an exclusive area overlooking Honolua Bay that may have been motivated by a hate crime.

Police Lt. Tim Gapero said the side of a van parked near the burning home was scratched with the words, “;Payback haole.”;

Gapero said the action could be a hate crime or a cover-up for something else.

In a fire, he said, a lot of evidence gets burned, so detectives have difficulty investigating arson.

Gapero said the fire started at multiple points in the house, also indicating the fire was set.

Police estimated the damage at $5.5 million to the house and $3 million to the contents at 226 Keoawa St., a residence on nearly six acres of agriculturally zoned land owned by Realtor Greg E. Brown of Brown Development.

Brown's two-story home, built in 2007, occupied an estimated 23,000 square feet and included six bedrooms, six baths, two Jacuzzis, several spaces for vehicles, a recreation room and a swimming pool that was more than 2,100 square feet in area, according to police and the county tax office.

At the time of the fire, Brown was vacationing in Colorado with his children and fiancee.

In an e-mail, Brown declined to be interviewed.

“;I am sorry, we are having a hard time with this and wish our privacy to be respected,”; he said. “;We would prefer not to discuss it at this time.”;

He confirmed news reports that he and his fiancee, Julie Mitchell, were starting an organization to expose children to farm animals at his residence and had been hosts to preschoolers from Sacred Heart and children with special needs from Kamehameha III Elementary School.

None of the animals was injured, and most of the livestock was grazing more than 10 miles away at Launiupoko.

County officials said the home at Plantation Golf Estates in Kapalua was fully engulfed in flames by the time police officers arrived at the scene shortly after the fire was first reported at 5:42 p.m. Saturday.

Fire officials report that fire crews were dispatched from Lahaina, Napili, Kahului and Kihei.

Firefighters worked through the evening and early morning to control the fire before calling it extinguished at 12:48 a.m. Sunday. No other structures were damaged and no neighboring properties were affected.