Missing woman found
after crash

In 1997, Debra Kalani slipped out of sight.

She didn't return her family's phone calls. She left no forwarding address. Her cousin Frances Kauai-Lynch knocked on doors in Haleiwa, where Kalani used to live, canvassed North Shore beaches and talked to old neighbors, hoping for a speck of news. But for eight years, nothing.

Then, on July 24, Kalani came back into their lives. She was dead.

And they heard about the hit-and-run crash that had killed her early that morning on the nightly news.

"I'm still in shock," Kauai-Lynch said, holding back tears. "I love my cousin. I remember her as a little girl. I just remember her as being so happy."

Kalani was struck by an unknown vehicle at about 2 a.m. while trying to cross Joseph P. Leong Highway in Haleiwa. Police are still looking for the driver of the vehicle and have no solid leads.

For Kalani's family the hit-and-run was a sad ending to a life gone astray. Kalani likely got into drugs just before she cut off contact with them, Kauai-Lynch said. After she could no longer take care of them, Kalani's children were scattered to different foster homes.

"It's just sad to see how her life turned out," said Kauai-Lynch, who set about trying to contact her cousin's children after Kalani's death. She was able to reach all of them on her own or through relatives, except one: Kalani's oldest child, Christine.

Now, Kauai-Lynch, who just months ago was still looking for her cousin, is setting out on a new search: To track down the 26-year-old and lend her support.

As she searches for her cousin's daughter, Kauai-Lynch is also piecing together the last years of Kalani's life.

She has talked to a North Shore minister who knew Kalani as one of his parishioners. That is how Kauai-Lynch found out her cousin was homeless.

She is also trying to find Kalani's boyfriend, who police say saw the early-morning crash that killed her cousin.

But she does not want to talk to him about the hit-and-run. For Kauai-Lynch, finding the driver involved is secondary to making sure her cousin's children are OK.

"It's too late for justice," she said. "I'm more concerned about her (Kalani's) children. I don't want them to go down a negative path."