A 24-year-old woman originally from Oregon who went missing Sunday near the Wainaku Scenic Point apparently had been on the Big Island a few months.
The family of Megan May Funderburk, who goes by May or Mei, has been searching for information on social media about the missing woman.
Her brother, Devon Lee Funderburk, who lives in Kona, posted Tuesday night on Facebook that his sister’s phone had been found in the area where she went missing.
Reached briefly by phone, an emotional Devon Funderberk said Wednesday there is “a massive force of people” looking for his sister.
Those with leads can text or call him at 769-3101.
Jessica Cleeton Funderburk, the woman’s stepmother, posted on the Big Island Thieves and Big Island Popo Alert Facebook pages that Megan Funderburk was last seen at about 1 p.m. Sunday, and that her last message to her father was that she was going to the Hamakua area.
“She was not in a vehicle last we heard,” Jessica Funderburk wrote.
In a statement Wednesday by police, Megan Funderburk was described as 5-foot-9-inches tall, 117 pounds with hazel eyes and blond hair. She has a tattoo of the Star of David on her chest, and was last seen wearing a gray long-sleeved cut-off top and unknown colored pants.
Funderburk’s Facebook page said she lives in Hilo.
On Oct. 24, she posted a Facebook fundraiser saying she had “just put the down payment on land in Hawaii.”
“I am building a self sustainable house, and food garden. My dreams are coming true I just need some help to complete my projects. New age, New Wave this land is for my unborn children to be blessed with sustainability food and knowledge. Mahalo Nui loa I and I,” Funderburk wrote.
Funderburk describes herself on Facebook as “a servant of the Most High Jah Rastafari.”
A Sept. 9 post has several photos of her with Nahko Bear, frontman of the touring band Nahko and Medicine for the People — who, in his early days, played music at the Bayfront Kava Bar and Hilo Farmer’s Market.
Police Capt. Kenneth Quiocho, commander of Hilo Patrol Division, confirmed Funderburk’s phone had been recovered and that detectives and evidence technicians “are doing some analytical work” on the device.
“We don’t have any (other) leads that are of any significance,” Quiocho said. “We are following up on every little angle we can get as part of the investigation, and we need the public’s help with this one.”
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call the police nonemergency line at 935-3311 or Crime Stoppers at 961-8300.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.