Family holds vigil for missing 6-year-old Isabella Kalua

A somber moment came Sunday night in the search for missing 6-year-old Isabella Kalua, known to her biological family as Ariel, when they announced they will no longer coordinate the hundreds of volunteers who have been looking for any sign of the Waimanalo girl.

A few hundred people, many school-age children with their parents and grandparents, joined Sunday in a candlelight vigil and a moment of silence for Isabella. Her birth mother, Melanie Joseph, knelt down on one knee and held Isabella’s younger sister on the other, holding a candle in the darkness, surrounded by supporters.

Jamie Kumai, a relative and family spokeswoman, addressed the crowd gathered at Waimanalo District Park, saying that the search will continue but will no longer be coordinated at the park. She encouraged those who do so to be safe.

She thanked those who attended the vigil, those “physically here, spiritually, all the food donations that we’ve been getting, everybody coming out every day, the love and support we’ve been getting.”

“We cannot express how grateful we are for you guys,” Kumai said. “Without you guys we wouldn’t have come this far to hold it together as a family.”

Cousin Alena Kaeo said of their search for Isabella, “We’re never going to stop.”

Another family member encouraged the community: “Leave a light on for Isabella.”

Isabella’s adoptive parents, Isaac K. Kalua III and wife Lehua, told police she was last seen 9 p.m. Sept. 12, asleep in her bedroom at their Puha Street home, and they awoke the next morning to find her missing.

The park also served as a command post for police, FBI, Department of Land and Natural Resources and other city, state and federal agencies, which coordinated efforts with the family and volunteers, not just from Waimanalo, but from across the island.

Community and family members questioned why the Kaluas never participated in the search, despite an immediate response by her biological family and volunteers on the day she was first reported missing. A family friend, criminal defense attorney William Harrison, said it was because they received death threats.

Lighthouse Christian Fellowship Pastor Bill Youngs prayed, “Show us where Isabella is and bring her home.”

“Dear God, I pray that if anyone is holding onto her, that they release her and send her back home.

“Most of all, Father, we pray that we could have peace in our hearts.”

Keke Keliikoa, a family friend who has donated food, staffed the food tables for volunteers and helped in the search, said Sunday night, “It’s been an emotional week.”

“The outpouring of support from the island” is what particularly moved her.

“The big search is going to end, but we will never forget what is going on,” she said.

Keliikoa said volunteers from as far as Waianae, Nanakuli and Laie have come out, including a Laie woman, with a 6-year-old named Isabella, who dropped off cases of water.

She has also met others who have lived through a similar experience, including a Texas family that now lives in Hawaii.

Joan Acasio, 47, Wai­manalo resident and grandmother of nine, brought seven to the vigil, from 18 months to 11 years of age.

She said she felt sad. “Everybody wants closure,” Acasio said. “Just bring her home so the family has closure.”

Waimanalo resident Manny Fernandez, 75, has been searching six days for Isabella — on the back roads of Waimanalo, on farm lots, nurseries and trails.

On Sunday he searched along Kapaa Quarry Road to Kalaheo Avenue, looking in and out of the bushes, while some members of his search party walked into Kawainui Marsh.

Fernandez remains skeptical of the details of her disappearance.

“It’s a setup,” he said.

Why would she reportedly be wearing a hoodie and footwear if she were asleep? he asked.

And Kaeo — a cousin of Isabella’s biological mother — asked why the adoptive parents would not secure locks so that a 6-year-old could not leave the house in the middle of the night.

When asked whether the adoptive family thought she had been abducted or simply wandered away, he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser they don’t know, but seemed to point the finger at her birth mother and others since everyone knows where they live.

Hokulani Garcia, 39, of Mililani, said, “It’s heartbreaking. Prayers to the family. A child doesn’t walk away and disappear.”

The mother of five grew up in Waimanalo and still has family there. “At a time like this, the community comes together.”

A group of 10 friends of a family member drove from Kunia to the vigil.

Lauren Bartels, 47, said, “We all came for support. I really teach my kids when something happens in the community, you step up and help.”