DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM A police evidence specialist looked for fingerprints yesterday on a Mercedes that was hauled up to the road after being found off the cliffs by Makapuu Beach Park. The driver is missing.

---

Man missing
after his car
runs off cliff

Police find no sign of
the man at the site
near Makapuu Beach

A Salt Lake man is missing after his 2005 Mercedes-Benz four-door sedan was found apparently abandoned in the brush below the cliffs overlooking Makapuu Beach Park yesterday morning.

Kenneth Peters: The 31-year-old's car was found in the brush down a cliff near Makapuu

The car, with the license plate "OH2BAD," was discovered at about 6:30 a.m. with the keys still in the ignition, however the driver was not inside, and was not found in the surrounding area.

The car was traced to 31-year-old Kenneth J. Peters Jr., who was last seen Monday night leaving his workplace at JTD International Inc. on Iwaena Street in Halawa where he is a partner and a bookkeeper.

Police said it appears Peters, or whoever was driving his Mercedes, was traveling from Waimanalo toward Hawaii Kai along Kalanianaole Highway when the vehicle veered off the road, went over a concrete barrier and plummeted about 70 feet.

It was after his vehicle was discovered that police said Peters' roommate and business partner reported him missing.

"He was last seen leaving between 7:30 and 7:40 p.m.," said Honolulu police spokesman Frank Fujii. "There's no sign of foul play and his car was not reported stolen. We're asking anyone with any sort of information about this case to call police."

Peters is Caucasian, 5 feet 9 inches, 165 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a gray dress shirt and black pants.

HPD Specialized Services Division officers along with the police bloodhound "Annie" and the police helicopter crew searched the area for hours yesterday, but found no trace of Peters.

Police said yesterday afternoon that the dog caught a scent, which led it to a pair of men's shoes in the hills across from the Makapuu Lookout. Police said it is unclear as to whose shoes they were.

"We can't confirm they're Peters'," Fujii said.

Milla Raquel, an aunt of Peters, said he is originally from Laupahoehoe on the Big Island and that she is one of his only relatives on Oahu.

Raquel said she usually saw her nephew every weekend when she came into town from Waialua to clean his unit at the Country Club Village condominiums in Salt Lake.

"He wore glasses, but he didn't have trouble driving," Raquel said, who also noted that Peters did not take any medication or have a medical condition that she knew about.