Mililani boy, 7, found dead in pool of vacant house

Hawaii residents shared in the heartbreaking tragedy with the family of a 7-year-old autistic boy whose lifeless body was found Christmas morning in a swimming pool at a nearby vacant house in Mililani.

Paul “Kevin” Rozier wandered away from his Lahe Street home at about 5 p.m. Christmas Eve, and a CrimeStoppers bulletin went out. Neighbors joined the Roziers and others to search for him.

Cori Hara, 39, who grew up across the street from where the Roziers live, said she and her family joined the search, and they saw many who didn’t know the family combing the streets at 12:30 a.m. Monday in the cold with flashlights.

Firefighters were called at 8 a.m. Monday and arrived in five minutes to the home at 94-268 Anania Drive, but someone had already pulled him from the pool, said fire Capt. Scot Seguirant.

Police recovered the child’s body from the pool at about 7:55 a.m. No foul play is suspected. An autopsy is scheduled for today.

One neighbor, who asked not to be named, said she skipped a family Christmas dinner because she didn’t feel like celebrating, saying it was too sad.

Stacy Bailey, 46, who lives near the Roziers, said she and her husband and children were preparing to search for Kevin on Christmas morning when they heard the bad news.

“It’s not the way that we wanted it to be, but God made a plan for the child,” she said. “We lost a granddaughter, so we know the feeling of losing a loved one.”

Bailey said they knew Kevin was autistic. “We hardly see him outside, but when we do he just wants to run.”

“It’s tragic,” but she noted that the community came together and displayed hope and love in the search for the boy. She said a check of the community pool was made, but no one knew of the private pool.

The house is about a five-minute walk, two-tenths of a mile from the Roziers’ home.

GinaAnn Apana, who manages the property for Allure Realty, said, “I’m just totally shocked. I don’t know how he got into the property. If you walk on the sidewalk, you can’t tell there’s a pool. You would have to walk into the carport.”

She said the pool and other areas are completely locked, including a lockbox for the pool cleaner to use. She supposes the 4-foot-7 boy may have climbed the fence.

Apana was trying to notify the owner, Hanalani Schools, which bought the house about two months ago as an investment rental property.

Hara said as a child she would pass by the house to go to the nearby park, but never noticed a pool at the house. But she realized Monday that the pool was visible through the wooden slats in the garage.

Hara said one of her 6-year-old twin boys nearly drowned at a resort pool when he was 3, “so it really hit close to home.”

Jasmine Rozier used social media to give updates on the search for her son Christmas Eve.

While many on social media have expressed their heartfelt expressions of sympathy, Hara admonished that judgmental comments are “not what this family needs.”

“We try to let the boys know what is the true meaning of Christmas, why we celebrate — what’s important more than materialistic things,” she said.

Rozier simply said in a Facebook post, “Today I lost my son.”

Neighbors said the boy leaves behind a little sister.

The family declined comment at this time.