Police identified the body of a man found Friday in a ravine during the search for a missing elderly Hilo couple as the husband, 93-year-old Masaru Miyamoto.
Police Lt. Greg Esteban of the Hilo Criminal Investigations Section said late Monday afternoon the identification was made via fingerprints and relatives have been notified.
While looking for Masaru Miyamoto and his 88-year-old wife, Tamie Miyamoto, officers found the man’s body at the bottom of a ravine behind a home on Kahema Street.
An autopsy conducted Tuesday determined that he died from injuries consistent with an accidental fall, police said.
The missing woman was found in an area of thick vegetation.
“At the time of recovery, an unidentified body was taken to the hospital for pronouncement (of death),” Esteban said. “Foul play is not suspected. The female, Tamie Miyamoto, was treated and remains at Hilo Medical Center.”
A written statement by police said the woman was suffering from exposure.
Esteban said the woman’s condition “is improving.”
According to police, the Miyamotos were doing yard work for relatives who were off-island and that they frequently picked warabi behind the house where Tamie Miyamoto and her husband’s body were found.
After a dispatch Friday afternoon seeking information from the public about the whereabouts of the missing couple, police released another statement Friday evening that said the Miyamotos both were “located and transported to Hilo Medical Center,” but didn’t mention Masaru Miyamoto was found deceased, likely because he hadn’t been officially identified and relatives hadn’t been notified.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.