Missing boy turns up safe

By COLIN M. STEWART

Tribune-Herald Staff Writer

Police located Thursday a 9-year-old Puna boy who had been missing since Wednesday afternoon.

Disen Hue-Aragaki left his home, near the J. Hara Store in Kurtistown, around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, shortly after having an argument with his mother, according to Lt. Gregory Esteban.

An alert was sent out around 10 p.m. Wednesday evening, and police had been looking for the boy ever since, Esteban said.

According to a press release issued by the Hawaii Police Department, aiding in the search for the 4-foot-6, 60-pound Filipino boy were officers and detectives with the Puna Patrol, the Juvenile Aid Section, the Criminal Investigations Section, the Vice Section and the Traffic Enforcement Unit. They scoured the area where he was last seen, along with the help of a scent-discriminating dog and a helicopter.

“We were preparing for the worst,” Esteban said late Thursday afternoon. “It’s been a long day, but the end result was very much desired.”

Hue-Aragaki was located at a home on Railroad Avenue in Hilo, where he had been taken by a family that found him wandering along 40th Avenue in Orchidland.

“The family saw him and they were concerned,” Esteban said. “They asked him where he lived, what’s his phone number, but he was unable to provide that information.”

The family took the boy home, where he made friends with their 5-year-old, Esteban said.

‘They took him in overnight, gave him food, shelter, clothing. … The next day, a relative contacted the dad and said that, hey, this is the boy that was missing,” Esteban said. “That was how we located him. It was a long day, but fortunately, through the efforts of the community in Orchidland — they were really great — we found him.”

Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.