CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@ STARBULLETIN.COM
Mary Silva calmed her 4-month-old infant, Austin, yesterday as her brother, Daniel Silva, stood by the cordoned-off crime scene area in Maili. Daniel's son discovered the body.
Body found
in Maili ditchAn autopsy will be performed
to determine if the body is that
of a missing Waianae woman
A hundred and fifty volunteers scoured the Waianae Coast yesterday morning, unsuccessfully looking for a 75-year-old woman who has been missing for almost two weeks.
Also yesterday, police removed an unidentified woman's body from a shallow ditch near Paakea Road, less than a mile from the missing woman's Maili home.
Because of the condition of the body, police say they cannot know whether it is Helen Hun, missing since Nov. 3, until an autopsy is performed tomorrow.
"She was in a real advanced state of decomposition," said Lt. Bill Kato. The case is currently classified as an unattended death.
Children playing in a brushy area off the road discovered the body shortly before 9 a.m. yesterday.
An expert estimated the body had been in the area four to seven days, he said.
"We're just waiting to see," said Karen Hun, one of Helen Hun's daughters. If the body does turn out to be her mother's "at least we will have closure," she said.
"You hope for the best and be prepared for the worst," said Karen Hun's cousin, Jeff Kanui.
After four hours of knocking on doors and passing out missing person flyers yesterday, Hun's friends and family preferred to focus on a hopeful lead: a woman at a Waianae store said she talked to a woman fitting Helen Hun's description on Friday. Police will watch a store surveillance video to see if the encounter was recorded and if it was Hun, said Detective Phil Camero.
Another of Helen Hun's daughters, Helen Sanpei of Honolulu, said that her mother, who suffers from dementia, "can tell you a real good story with very convincing details." She said she hopes that someone on the Waianae Coast is taking care of her mother, without realizing that she's missing.
Helen Hun's husband of more than 60 years, Gilbert Hun, said yesterday he is grateful for the volunteer searchers.
"I hope that wherever she is -- if she is being harbored by friends or by somebody and she has enough to eat and a place to sleep. But I'd rather have her home."
Anyone with any information about Hun's whereabouts is asked to call Camero at 529-3394. Calls may also be made to CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or *CRIME on a cellular phone.
