The most notorious missing child-turned-murder case in Hawaii history will finally make its way to a courtroom.
A Hilo grand jury on Wednesday indicted Peter Kema Sr. and Jaylin Kema for the death of their son, Peter Kema Jr., aka “Peter Boy,” the abused 6-year-old Big Island boy whose disappearance 19 years ago sparked a statewide media firestorm.
Both face second-degree murder charges, which carry a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole upon conviction. The indictment alleges murder by omission, which means the boy’s alleged death resulted from the couple’s failure to seek medical attention or to provide for his basic needs.
The grand jury finished its work too late Wednesday for indictment returns to be done in open court, so Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura wasn’t able to issue a bench warrant for the Kemas’ arrests until this afternoon.
Bail was set at $500,000 for Peter Sr. and $150,000 for Jaylin Kema.
Kema Sr. was in custody after police picked him up Thursday afternoon on a traffic stop.
In November 2014, Hawaii County Prosecutor Mitch Roth, who’s up for re-election this year, told reporters a new round of interviews by police and prosecutors had turned up additional evidence in the case but didn’t elaborate on what it was. He said charges could be lodged “in a reasonable time.”
Peter Boy, who would turn 25 on Sunday if he were alive, went missing sometime in late spring or early summer 1997. Kema Sr. told authorities in August 1997 he left Peter Boy with a longtime family friend, “Aunty Rose Makuakane,” at Aala Park in downtown Honolulu. Authorities couldn’t find any evidence the woman exists, didn’t believe Kema’s story and found no plane tickets to corroborate his account.
The boy wasn’t even reported missing until Jaylin Kema was prompted by a social worker and police to file a report in January 1998. The following month, police issued a missing person press release with a photo of Peter Boy. Police said at the time the boy hadn’t been seen by anyone but his parents in the previous eight months.
The Kemas were provided with a court-appointed attorney, a rare occurrence when no criminal charges have been filed. The couple talked to reporters on April 27, 1998, in the law offices of Steve Strauss in Hilo. Kema Sr. told the same story he told police and denied killing his son. The Kemas asked the public for help finding the boy, but have made no public statements about him since.
Public outrage about the boy’s disappearance was palpable, and in the early 2000s, bumper stickers with the child’s face and the question “So where’s Peter?” were seen statewide.
In 2005, then-state Human Services Director Lillian Koller released more than 2,000 pages of heavily redacted documents, with details of abuse allegedly suffered by Peter Boy and his siblings at the hands of Kema Sr.
The youngest, Devalynn, now an adult and known as Lina Acol, told a psychologist in 1998, when she was 5, that she saw Peter Boy dead in a box, but also told the psychologist her brother was alive in Honolulu. The psychologist noted the girl’s understanding of death was consistent with her age and could lead her to believe a person could become alive again after death.
The girl also told the psychologist Peter Sr. gave both Peter Boy and her mother “dirty lickins,” which she described as punching, hitting and slapping, and that Peter Boy was tied up with chains and ropes.
When he was only 3 months old, Peter Boy was admitted to Hilo Hospital with multiple fractures, both new and healing, to his shoulder, elbow, ribs and knees. The older children were placed with their maternal grandparents, where they thrived. Peter Boy spent time between foster care and Jaylin Kema’s parents.
On July 25, 1994, Peter Boy was returned to his parents, despite warnings from several quarters that the Kemas were unfit and almost 11 months later, the other children were also returned to the Kemas. The case was closed in October 1995.
In 1997, child welfare officials opened another investigation after a cousin said Peter Boy may have suffered a broken arm and was forced to eat dog feces. That was about the same time the boy’s siblings said they last saw him alive.
Jaylin Kema and Peter Kema Sr. were arrested Nov. 3, 2015, after police and the state’s Welfare Fraud Investigation Division executed a search warrant at their Ainaloa subdivision home in Puna. Jaylin Kema was charged with second-degree theft for allegedly receiving more than $17,000 in welfare benefits she wasn’t entitled to between May 2010 and July 2015.
Police said the search also turned up a handgun with an altered serial number, ammunition, marijuana and butane honey oil, a marijuana derivative.
Peter Kema Sr. was arrested on suspicion of possible firearms and drug charges but later released without being charged.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.