Police are looking for leads in the cases of three missing people, all from Pune, who they suspect were victims of foul play.
All were previously reported missing in police bulletins. They are Jarryd Lee Kalanihuli Ah Quin, 37; Joseph Smithey, 54; and Michelle Shown, 41.
“No bodies were found in any of these cases,” said Capt. Rio Amon-Wilkins of the Hawaii Police Department’s Eastern Hawaii Criminal Investigation Division. “But we did a lot of follow-ups, witness interviews and interviews with family members. We reviewed cellphone records and other financial records.”
In addition, there is no evidence that any of the three left the island, Amon-Wilkins said.
Of the three, Ah Quin, who was 34 when he disappeared, is missing the longest. He was last seen in the Hawaiian Beaches area in the early hours of October 5, 2019, according to police.
Ah Quin was known to visit the Hilo and Puna areas, police said. Amon-Wilkins said he doesn’t think Ah Quin has a fixed address.
According to court filings, Ah Quin has two active contempts of traffic trials in 2018 and 2019, with court dates scheduled for February 8 in both cases.
“All I know is that he stopped appearing in court and I was concerned,” Jeremy Butterfield, Ah Quin’s court-appointed attorney in those cases, said Tuesday.
Amon-Wilkins said Ah Quin is the younger brother of Jace Whitney AhQuin (the men spell their last names differently), who was beaten to death with a baseball bat on June 20, 2020 at his first-floor apartment on Opae Street on Hawaiian Beaches .
Jace AhQuin’s landlord, Stanley Marion Cummins, is charged with second-degree murder for AhQuin’s death and is awaiting trial.
The house where the homicide took place was severely damaged by fire 2 1/2 weeks later.
Smithey was 52 when family members heard from him. Smithey, who reportedly required medical attention, was reported missing in late June 2021.
Family members told police they had not been in contact with Smithey for about a month and he was last seen at his home on Lehua Street in Mountain View’s Fern Acres subdivision in late May 2021.
Shown was 41 when she was reported missing in early July 2022 and has not been seen or heard from since. She was last seen at her home on Ina Street in the Pahoa suburb of Hawaiian Beaches, according to police.
Amon-Wilkins said both Smithey and Showen left “most of their belongings” at their homes. He said he didn’t think either person had family on the island.
“We have been in contact with their families as the investigation progressed,” Amon-Wilkins said. “Showen was originally from Montana, I think, and had moved here.
“And then Smithey, I don’t know exactly how long he was on the island before he disappeared.”
Amon-Wilkins said all three missing persons cases “are still officially classified as missing persons cases”.
“We have no concrete information that these are murders,” he said. “But based on the aggregate of all investigations to date, we are conducting investigations as if they were homicides.”
Police are asking anyone with information about any of these cases to call the police emergency number at (808) 935-3311 or Crime Stoppers at (808) 961-8300.
Tips and other information can also be emailed to [email protected]
Email John Burnett at [email protected]