Hawaii cases of home-schooling and abuse

These four Hawaii cases are included in a national database compiled by the Coalition for Responsible Home Education that tracks severe abuse, including fatalities, of children who are home-schooled.

Peter Boy Kema

This is considered one of the most notorious child abuse cases in Hawaii history. Peter Boy, who was abused throughout his short life on Hawaii island, disappeared in 1997 at age 6, never to be found. After the case went cold for years, his parents, Peter Kema Sr. and Jaylin Kema, were convicted last year of manslaughter for Peter Boy’s death. His father got 20 years in prison; his mother was sentenced to a year behind bars. Prosecutors said Peter Boy was home-schooled to conceal the abuse. But a sibling says Peter Boy wasn’t home-schooled, he just didn’t go to school.

Shaelynn Lehano-Stone

Prosecutors allege that Shaelynn’s parents, Kevin Lehano and Tiffany Stone, and her maternal grandmother, Henrietta Stone, caused the 9-year-old’s death by starving her, starting in late October 2015. Several weeks later, the grandmother pulled Shaelynn from her Hilo elementary school so the girl could be educated at home. Absent regular contact at school, Shaelynn’s health deteriorated without any teachers being able to intervene. She was found emaciated and unconscious in her Hilo apartment in June 2016 and died a few hours later. Her parents and grandmother have pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.

Indigo Wright

The 12-year-old girl weighed only 28 pounds — a more typical weight for a toddler — when she was taken to an Oahu hospital unresponsive in 2007. A jury convicted her parents, Melvin Wright Jr. and Denise Wright, of second-degree attempted murder for denying the girl food and medical care. They were given life sentences with the possibility of parole. Indigo suffered brain damage but survived. She had been home-schooled by her mother. Denise Wright testified at trial that fear of her husband and the shame of being judged by the public prevented her from taking the girl to see a doctor.

Alexis

This case was described in court as the most severe example of child abuse that a Honolulu hospital staff had ever seen in which the victim survived. Alexis, 10, was discovered in 2005 at a Hawaii island home in a coma with burn marks, maggot-infested wounds, broken bones, half a lip missing and suffering from malnutrition. Prosecutors said the girl, whose full name was not used to protect her identity, was home-schooled to conceal the abuse. Her caregiver, Hyacinth Poouahi, was convicted of multiple charges and received a 20-year prison sentence in 2009.