Honolulu police have opened a missing persons investigation to find a 54-year-old man who lived at a one-bedroom structure that burned to the ground on Mokauea Island in Keehi Lagoon yesterday.

Fire department spokesman Capt. Terry Seelig said that no body was found in the rubble of the charred structure which was built on stilts on the ewa end of the 13.7-acre island in Keehi Lagoon.

Police said the daughter of the man, Melvin Lopez, who normally sleeps in the building, asked police to open a missing persons case. Police said Lopez is 5-feet, 6-inches tall and weighs 150 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes. His daughter told police that it has been awhile since she has seen her father.

Police also said Lopez is known to sleep under the freeway in the area.

The fire caused an estimated $75,000 damage. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

The Lopez home was leased from the Mokauea Fishermen’s Association. At least four families lease homes from the association, which holds a 65-year master lease from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. The state allowed residents to rebuild as long as their houses were built to housing code. The master lease will expire in 2043.

The island is the only remaining native Hawaiian fishing village on Oahu and a nonprofit group has been working to restore it.