A Colorado mother whose ex-husband is believed to be hiding on the Big Island with their 9-year-old daughter said she’s “very sad and heartbroken” and hopes her daughter will return home soon.
Speaking Tuesday from her Colorado Springs home, Barbara Kirk said her 55-year-old ex-husband, Brian, the noncustodial parent, had permission to take their daughter, Brianne, for spring break, but not to board a plane for the Big Island.
“He said they’d be camping at the Pueblo Reservoir here in Colorado,” she said. “He called once they were on the airplane and said they’d be camping, but they’d be camping on the Big Island. … She left with her dad March 22, and the last communication I had with her was the Saturday morning before she was supposed to return home, which was March 28.”
Brianne Kirk, a fourth-grader, was supposed to be returned to her mother on March 30, according to a statement issued Monday by the FBI. The federal agency said the girl’s father, a former Pahoa resident who now lives in Pine, Colo., sent his ex-wife a text message advising that he and Brianne were flying to Kona to go camping at a vacant lot at 15-1982 20th Ave., in Hawaiian Paradise Park.
County tax records show the property belongs to another Pine, Colo., resident, and Barbara Kirk confirmed she and her ex-husband know the property owner.
The FBI confirmed the man and girl boarded a plane to Kona. Special Agent Tom Simon, the agency’s Honolulu spokesman, said they’ve been unable to make contact with Brian or Brianne Kirk. He said the man’s cellphone has been off for more than a month.
Simon said the agency is following up on a couple of leads. The first lead placed Brian and Brianne Kirk at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park at 4 p.m. Monday, reportedly in the company of a blonde woman in her 40s. Simon said that lead is being taken seriously.
In addition, a Big Island resident who knows Brian Kirk reportedly told the FBI that Kirk said last month he planned to “sail to Malaysia” from the Big Island with his daughter. The FBI believes the individual, but doesn’t know if Kirk has the sailing knowledge or financial means for such a trip.
“I don’t know that he has access to a boat,” Simon said. “This is not a guy who has deep pockets or the financial resources that it would take to get a sailboat and stock it in such a manner that you’re not going to starve to death on the high seas. … And I don’t know that he has any special sailing ability. We never heard of that.”
Barbara Kirk said she’s also not aware of Brian Kirk possessing a boat or seafaring skills.
Brian Donald Kirk is 6-feet-tall, 185 pounds with brown eyes and brown hair. He has spent much of his adult life as an insurance claims adjuster.
Brianne Kirk is about 4-foot-5 with brown eyes and hair.
Barbara Kirk said her daughter is “extremely outgoing.”
“She loves everybody,” she said.
A warrant for Brian Kirk’s arrest for custodial interference has been issued by a Jefferson County, Colo., court. According to Simon, the county warrant isn’t the focus of the FBI’s interest.
“We just want to get Brianne home to her mom. That is our sole agenda here, period,” he said. “We have no reason to believe Brian Kirk is a bad father, and we hope that he will choose to deal with the custody arrangement in family court in Colorado.”
Simon asked that anyone who knows something or sees Brian and/or Brianne Kirk call the FBI at 566-4300.
Barbara Kirk said she wants Brian Kirk to “put Brianne first.”
“She’s probably going to have to take her entire year at school over because of this,” she said. “… She’s missing out on all kinds of activities, a family reunion. Everything’s going on.”
The distraught mother also had a message for her missing daughter.
“Brianne, I love you so much. I miss you. I can’t wait to see you again and give you a big hug.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.