DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Tanya Mamala-Tumbaga, 18, above, wiped away her tears yesterday as she waved a sign calling the attention of motorists near Aloha Stadium to her missing sister, Kahealani Indreginal.

Search resumes for
11-year-old

Police will question her uncle
but say he isn't a suspect

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By Rosemarie Bernardo and Rod Antone
rbernardo@starbulletin.com | rantone@starbulletin.com

Police fanned through a housing complex again today in the search for 11-year-old Kahealani Indreginal, who has been missing from her Makalapa home since Tuesday afternoon.

"We're still holding on to hope," missing persons investigator Joe Self said this morning. "We've just got to go through the area again and see if maybe we missed anything."

Investigators also planned to question the girl's uncle, Douglas Kruse, 37, today, although he is not a suspect in the case. Police arrested Kruse last night but did not question him because he was too intoxicated and belligerent, Self said. He had to be physically restrained during his arrest.

Kruse, identified by Indreginal family members as the brother-in-law of the girl's father, had been wanted on criminal contempt and parole revocation warrants, police said. Court records show Kruse was convicted of burglary and second-degree theft and ordered in 1997 to serve at least one year and three months in prison.

Self said police wanted to talk to Kruse because he was seen in the same area at the same time of Indreginal's disappearance. But family members said they doubted he was involved in the girl's disappearance.

Tanya Mamala-Tumbaga, the girl's sister, said, "He loves my sister as his own daughter and he would never do anything to hurt her."

Missing Kahealani Indreginal: >> Filipino/Hawaiian ancestry >> 5-feet-2, 110 pounds >> Brown shoulder-length hair >> Brown eyes >> Wearing beige corduroy pants, four gold Hawaiian bracelets on each wrist

Indreginal was last seen around 2:45 p.m. Tuesday near a manapua truck parked in her Puuwai Momi housing complex, 99-185 Kohomua St., between Aloha Stadium and the Arizona Memorial Visitor Center.

Missing Persons investigator Phil Camero said, "We do not have any physical evidence that Kahealani has met with foul play, but we do not rule that out at the same time. I have a scary feeling about this case, but I pray that I'm wrong and I hope that I'm wrong."

Kahealani and a friend stopped by a manapua truck in the housing complex after coming home from Aiea Elementary School, Self said. She then visited a friend's house in the complex, according to family members and friends, and was last seen between buildings 1 and 3 of the complex.

"She wouldn't run away," said Mamala-Tumbaga. "She would never get into a car with a stranger."

Self said there has been no contact between Indreginal and family members or police since she was reported missing. "I don't like it because we don't have any signs," he said.

Self, who retires on Dec. 30 after 34 years of service, said, "This is not the kind of last case I'd like to have."

A family friend has posted a $10,000 reward for her safe return.

Indreginal's parents, Vincent Indreginal and Lehua Tumbaga, arrived home around 10 p.m. Tuesday after they purchased a Christmas tree Kahealani had wanted. Vincent said he was hoping that his 11-year-old daughter may have been at a neighbor's house or her uncle's house in Aiea.

"I didn't want to think of the worst," said Vincent Indreginal. "I didn't call (police) that night. I realized that (next) morning I should. That was a bad decision on my part."

Indreginal called the Pearl City police station Wednesday morning to report that his daughter was missing.

After family members discovered Kahealani was missing, "we just went crazy looking for her," he said.

DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM The girl's father, Vencent Indreginal, was at left. Her mother read a letter from someone expressing their concern over the missing 11-year-old girl.

A team of police detectives searched for the girl Wednesday night. Yesterday police set up a command post at the Aloha Stadium parking lot, on the Ewa side of Puuwai Momi, to conduct a door-to-door and aerial search of the area. A search team, consisting about 40 law enforcement officials, canvassed the housing complex. The team also covered outlying areas along Bougainville Drive near the former Costco site, Aiea Elementary School, bike paths at Rainbow Park, portions of Pearl Harbor, nearby freeway underpasses and manholes.

"We're sending our guys everywhere," Self said.

The team included the Specialized Services Division, or SWAT team, detectives from the Missing Persons Detail and the Criminal Investigation Division, four dogs and a police helicopter. Military police were also notified of the missing child.

But the day-long search, ending about 6:30 p.m., failed to yield any signs of the girl.

Indreginal is a sixth-grader at Aiea Elementary School. Relatives said she recently went through her second test and interview for Kamehameha Schools. She is described as a shy, straight-A student who has a passion for books, such as the "Harry Potter" series.

Mamala-Tumbaga, 18, said her sister wants to become a fashion designer.

Rumors were lingering around the housing complex yesterday that Indreginal may have been put in a white or blue truck Tuesday afternoon.

"We don't want to hear that," said Indreginal's aunt, Lori Moreno who lives at Puuwai Momi. "That's probably a parent's worst nightmare. What do you believe?"

To report info Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Investigator Phil Camero of HPD's Missing Persons Detail at 529-3394, or CrimeStoppers at 955-8300.

Loved ones have been praying for Indreginal's safe return since they learned she was missing.

"We told everybody to stay positive," Moreno said. "We're hoping that she holds on and fights her way back to us."

Honolulu Police Chief Lee Donohue went to Puuwai Momi to talk to detectives about the search and meet with Indreginal's family.

"Concern for the girl is foremost in our minds right now. We're doing everything that we can at this point, but we just have to pray for the best," Donohue said.

"There's always that fear (of abduction) because of what's happening on the mainland this year," said Donohue, referring to highly publicized child-abduction cases on the mainland earlier this year. "It's in our minds so we want to bring this to a quick resolution if we can."

Indreginal's 17-year-old brother, Kawika Mamala-Tumbaga, passed out fliers yesterday afternoon to pedestrians in front of Puuwai Momi Housing along Kamehameha Highway, hoping someone has seen his sister.

"Just bring her home safe," he said.

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Reporter Susan Essoyan contributed to this report.