Hawai‘i Police Department
Sergeant William Brown
Phone: (808) 935-3311
Report No.: 23-076932
Media Release
Hawai‘i Island police have launched a missing person investigation after a 59-year-old man fell overboard while on a cruise ship at sea early Friday morning, August 11, 2023. The missing man, identified as Kenneth Schwalbe of California, is described as 5 feet 5 inches tall, 140 pounds with brown hair.
Police received a report at 8:40 a.m. Friday morning that Schwalbe was last seen on Thursday, August 10, at 8:30 p.m. A search of the vessel yielded negative results, thus prompting the ship’s security personnel to notify local authorities.
The United States Coast Guard was notified and a maritime search was initiated. The ship was slated to dock in Hilo. Detectives from the Area I Criminal Investigation Section responded to the scene at the Hilo port.
Officers reviewed video surveillance footage taken at 4:18 a.m. Friday morning, August 11, from a camera positioned on the exterior of the ninth deck of the ship. The footage depicted a person believed to be Schwalbe falling from the ship.
Based on the time of the video footage combined with the ship’s coordinates, it was determined by the ship’s captain that the vessel was approximately 8 miles offshore Hilo when the incident occurred.
Detectives from the Area I Criminal Investigation Section will be continuing this investigation and ask anyone with information on this incident to contact the police department’s non-emergency line at 808-935-3311.
No photo of the missing man is available at this time.
