MEDIA RELEASE

Kahee Ioane Manuwai

Hawaiʻi Island police are asking for the public’s help in locating a 26-year-old Hilo man wanted for questioning in an auto theft investigation.

Kahee Ioane Manuwai is described as Part-Hawaiian, 5-foot-8, 170 pounds with brown eyes and short brown hair.

On Wednesday, January 11, at about 2:36 a.m., South Hilo patrol officers received a report of a Honda CRV vehicle had been stolen from a parking lot on the 500 block of West Lanikaula Street. Police recovered video surveillance footage and identified Manuwai as a suspect.

On Friday, January 13, at about 7:40 a.m., a reserve police officer observed the vehicle at a home on Awa Street in Hawaiian Beaches. When the officer approached the vehicle, the driver, who was identified as Manuwai, fled in the stolen vehicle. About three hours later, the burned vehicle was located at the lava viewing area in Kalapana.

Police ask anyone who knows Manuwai’s whereabouts to call the Police Department’s non-emergency line at 935-3311 or contact Detective Grant Todd at 961-2381 or grant.todd@hawaiicounty.gov or Detective Dean Uyetake at 961-2379 or dean.uyetake@hawaiicounty.gov.

Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous may call the islandwide Crime Stoppers number at 961-8300 and may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000. Crime Stoppers is a volunteer program run by ordinary citizens who want to keep their community safe. Crime Stoppers doesn’t record calls or subscribe to caller ID. Crime Stoppers information is kept confidential.