April 28, 1998

HILO, Hawaii — Peter Kema Sr. yesterday denied that he killed his 6-year-old son and renewed a plea for the public’s help in finding the boy.

Kema’s attorney, Steven Strauss, said that his client, when questioned by police, had denied killing his son. He repeated that denial last night.

“Absolutely not. I did not kill my son,” Strauss quoted Kema as saying. Kema told KHON Channel 2 News yesterday: “I did not kill my son, as far as I know. No, I did not kill him.”

Asked what Kema meant by “as far as I know,” Strauss said: “I would assume that it is very difficult for (the Kemas) to imagine that their son could be harmed, and they would hope he is not, and I’m sure he would feel he is responsible.”

Police said Kema and his wife, Jaylin, are not suspects in any criminal investigation. The boy’s disappearance is still classified as a missing-person case.

Kema Sr. told the Advertiser yesterday that it was out of concern for his son’s welfare that he gave the young boy to a woman he identified as Auntie Rose Makuakane, who is now the subject of an intense search.

Kema, 27, said he could not provide shelter and food for Peter Kema Jr. and so handed the boy to the woman at Aala Park last August. He said he has not seen the boy since.

Police have been unable to find any trace of Rose Makuakane. The Advertiser also has searched phone and city directories, computer databases and property records and been unable to find anyone by that name in Hawaii.

Kema said police found someone in Aala Park who claimed to have seen Makuakane three weeks ago, but he would not say if the tip had led anywhere, noting he could not disclose details of the ongoing police investigation.

Kema also said he took police to a Halawa home where he remembers Makuakane lived and where he had visited twice, but he would not disclose what, if anything, had been found.

Kema and his wife talked to reporters yesterday at Strauss’ Hilo law offices, largely to plead for the public’s help in finding their son, who is also known as Peter Boy or Pepe.

The Kemas did not file a missing-person report until January, when a social worker and police pressed Jaylin Kema to account for the boy’s whereabouts.

Asked why it has taken them so long to issue their plea for help, Kema said he first became concerned after Christmas, when Child Protective Services began asking questions about Peter’s location.

“Someone had put in a report to CPS and that kind of got me concerned, too,” Kema said. “And police searched my home, too.”

Police have issued a composite drawing of Makuakane based on Kema’s description, but relatives have said that they do not know of an “Auntie Rose.” Kema has described her as a cousin of his hanai father.

“I kind of feel bad about that,” Kema said of his relatives denying knowledge of Makuakane, “but I gave police the description. That’s pretty much what she looks like.”

Kema said Makuakane told him when he gave her his son that she was going to move to Florida.

“I hope he’s still on Oahu, but probably the last place they would be is Florida,” Kema said. He did not know where in Florida they might be, other than “on the beach.”

Kema said he was concerned about Makuakane taking the boy out of Hawaii, but said again that he was worried about Peter Boy’s well-being.

“I wanted to bring him back (to the Big Island), but I didn’t have enough money for plane tickets,” Kema said. He said he gave Makuakane his phone number and address, but did not get that information from her.

Kema offered little about Peter’s condition when he gave him to Makuakane.

According to a Family Court report, Peter was seen by relatives with an injured arm late in 1996. The report said social workers were told by one 15-year-old relative that the injury occurred as a result of abuse.

But Kema denied that Peter had an injured arm, and Jaylin Kema’s attorney, Craig Sadamoto, would not allow her to say whether she remembered the injury.

Peter’s maternal grandfather, James Acol, was angered to hear that Kema had not become concerned until authorities began asking questions.

“So in other words, if the police didn’t come, he wouldn’t have done anything about it? What kind of person is he anyway?” Acol said.

He and his wife, Yolanda, said Kema should have sent Peter to them. The boy was in their care for several years after he had suffered a suspicious fracture of his left leg at three months old and was taken away from his parents.

Jaylin Kema, 28, who said Sunday night she believes that Makuakane does exist, sat next to her husband as he was questioned by reporters, wiping away tears as he spoke.

After their session with reporters, the Kemas hugged and comforted each other.

Child Protective Services officers have placed the Kemas’ three remaining children under protective custody and moved them into a foster home.

Strauss refused to allow Kema to answer allegations contained in a confidential Family Court report filed in March alleging mistreatment of the boy, including reports he was seen to eat dog feces and made to wear underwear on his head.

The Kemas asked that anyone with information about the boy or Makuakane notify police or the Department of Human Services.

They passed out a flier bearing their son’s picture and the drawing of Auntie Rose. At the bottom, a handwritten plea reads: “Please! Aunty Rose, bring our Peter Boy back home!! Daddy and Mommy loves you and miss you, Peter Boy!!”

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