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‘Peter Boy’ probe
By Rod Thompson
referred to prosecutors
Star-BulletinHILO -- Police have reclassified the 1997 disappearance of Peter "Peter Boy" Kema Jr. as murder, Hawaii County Deputy Prosecutor Lincoln Ashida confirmed.
Police have referred the case to prosecutors, giving them four boxes of documents, Ashida said.
The disappearance of the boy, who would now be 9, drew statewide notoriety since his parents, Peter Sr. and Jaylin Kema, reported him missing in 1998, saying they put him in the care of an "Auntie Rose" Makuakane in 1997.
Police were unable to locate the woman or the boy.
Peter Kema Sr. has denied killing his son, but since then he and his wife have referred all questions to their attorneys.
Reclassification of the case, previously listed as a missing person, does not signal any immediate filing of charges in the case, Ashida said.
"For all practical purposes, for the past months and past years, this case has been actively investigated as a homicide," he said.
Ashida added that turning over documents to prosecutors is a normal activity when police feel their part of the investigation is substantially complete.
