Hawaiʻi Police Department
Ka‘ū Patrol Division
Captain Miles Chong
Phone: 808-939-2520
Report No.: 20-012750
Media Release
Hawaiʻi Island police have opened a Missing Persons investigation in connection with two overdue fishermen who were believed to have been swept into the ocean in Ka‘ū.
At 5:34 a.m. Thursday morning (February 13), family members reported that 62-year-old James Oyama, and 37-year-old Jay Jara, both of Nā‘ālehu, failed to return home from a shoreline fishing trip near Honuʻapo Bay the evening prior.
Police and Hawaiʻi Fire Department (HFD) personnel began a ground search, later locating the victims’ two trucks and their personal items on Mill Road at 6:35 a.m. that same morning. A fishing pole belonging to one of the men was set-up at the shoreline in an area exposed to high surf conditions.
The fire department’s helicopter was assisted by a United States Coast Guard (USCG) helicopter and C-130 aircraft with an aerial search.
Oyama is described as being 5-foot-9, 190 pounds, having a medium build with gray hair and brown eyes.
Jara is described as being 5-foot-7, 140 pounds, having a medium build with brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing blue denim jeans and a blue shirt.
Anyone who may have information about this incident is asked to call the Police Department’s non-emergency line at (808) 935-3311 or Officer Dane Shibuya, of our Ka‘ū Patrol Division at (808) 939-2520.
