Hunt for kidnap
suspect ends after kids
admit it was a hoax

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By Rod Antone
Star-Bulletin

AT FIRST it was a story of five little Davids vs. a Goliath.

Now it's the story of the kids who cried kidnapper.

Last Wednesday, five 8-year-olds from Linapuni Elementary School said a man in a maroon car drove up and tried to pull the only girl in their group into his car.

They went on to describe how the other children, four boys, fought to help their friend, pulling and punching, even throwing rocks, eventually driving the man off without his prey.

It was a great story. Now police say that's all it was.

"It's hard to figure out what goes through the mind of an 8-year-old," said Lt. Letha DeCaires, Crimestoppers coordinator for the Honolulu Police Department.

DeCaires said she had found it hard to believe at first that a group of 8-year-old children could fend off an adult. Under questioning by police this week, one child came clean and admitted the kidnapping attempt never happened, DeCaires said

"Kalihi officers took this case very seriously" said DeCaires. "For five days they made it their highest priority."

The community took the case seriously as well, especially since the children said the kidnapper matched the description of an actual suspect in another case in the neighborhood.

About two weeks prior to the kidnapping story, police said they were looking for a man who exposed himself and masturbated in front of several young girls at Fern Playground.

DeCaires said the children probably got the idea from the fliers police passed around with the Fern suspect's description.

DeCaires said police still want the public to keep in mind that the Fern Playground suspect is real and still on the loose. Police said he is a man in his early 30s, 5-foot-8 and about 240 pounds. The vehicle the suspect drove is described as a maroon 4-door sedan with a dark colored interior.

In the phony kidnap case, "Police ran the license plate number of every vehicle that passed through that area. That's hundreds of cars." said DeCaires.

Because Linapuni is situated very close to Kuhio Park Terrace, vehicles going to the school campus must be registered at the gate. Police spent up to $2,000 on the investigation.