COURTESY PHOTOS
Peter Kema Sr. was scheduled to be sentenced Friday. Deputy Hawaii County Prosecuting Attorney Rick Damerville says the hearing is postponed because authorities are still searching for the 6-year-old boy’s remains.
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Sentencing is being delayed for Peter Kema Sr., who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of his son, who disappeared 20 years ago.
Kema was scheduled to be sentenced Friday. Deputy Hawaii County Prosecuting Attorney Rick Damerville says the hearing is postponed because authorities are still searching for the 6-year-old boy’s remains.
As part of a deal with prosecutors, Kema pleaded guilty in exchange for a 20-year sentence, on the condition that he reveal the location of the remains. Prosecutors say he led authorities to a site in the rural Puna district where he said he dumped the remains of his son known as “Peter Boy.”
If the remains can’t be found, Kema must take a polygraph test.
Damerville said Kema is now scheduled to be sentenced July 24.
Man killed in Paauilo crash ID’d
A man who died in a three-vehicle crash in Paauilo has been identified as Jacob De Jesus.
De Jesus, 32, of Paauilo, died after he collided head-on with a dump truck near the 37-mile marker on Highway 19 on Wednesday.
At about 9 a.m., police said, a sedan operated by De Jesus was traveling Hilo-bound on the highway when he crossed the centerline and struck a 2007 Kenworth dump truck towing a flatbed trailer. The impact pushed the sedan into the path of a 2016 Jeep Wrangler that also was heading Hilo-bound.
De Jesus was thrown from his vehicle in the crash and pinned beneath the flatbed trailer, according to the Hawaii County Fire Department, which responded to the crash.