April 29, 1998

Big Island police have asked the Hawaii County prosecutor’s office to explore what legal options — if any — are open to them, should they choose to make a case against Peter Kema Sr.

Kema has not been identified as a suspect in a criminal investigation, but police and Child Protective Services — or CPS — have questioned him several times about his 6-year-old son, Peter Jr. The Hilo father said he gave custody of the boy to an Oahu woman last summer and has not seen him since. Police have classified the boy’s disappearance as a missing persons case.

“There are some issues of possible criminal law violations and CPS law issues, and what we may do is have what we call a civil-criminal meeting to bring the criminal and CPS sides together,” said Charlene Iboshi, first deputy prosecutor. “Inquiries were made and we’ll go from here.”

Some family members fear the boy, a child-abuse victim, may be dead.

Since the case surfaced last week, Big Island police have received about a dozen calls, but none has produced anything that sustains Kema’s story, Capt. Morton Carter said yesterday.

Kema has told police that he gave his son, who family members call Peter Boy or Pepe, to an old friend — “Auntie Rose Makuakane,” a lauhala weaver from Halawa. Kema said he met the woman at Aala Park last August when he was on Oahu looking for work.

But Carter’s detectives have found no trace of Makuakane.

The case has drawn national attention. Yesterday, someone from the TV show “America’s Most Wanted” called local FBI agents. The show’s producers want to include information at the end of this week’s show because Kema has said Makuakane talked about taking the boy to Florida.

The show airs at 8 p.m. Saturday on KHON Channel 2 (Fox).

The Missing Child Center-Hawaii yesterday faxed its Florida counterpart an artist’s rendering of Makuakane. Florida officials planned to look for Peter in schools statewide.

The Hawaii center this week finally received a release and information form from Peter Kema Sr. and his wife, Jaylin, authorizing the National Center for Missing Children to post information on its Web site..

Meanwhile, Gov. Ben Cayetano would not comment yesterday on whether he is satisfied with how state officials have handled the Kema case.

“ When everything is said and done, then someone else, I think, needs to come in and take a look” at whether authorities could have done better, Cayetano said.

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