FBI: DNA samples needed with at least 1,000 missing (2024)

Search in Lahaina shifts to higher buildings; officials say list of missing may be public soon

Ever since she lost contact with her husband on the afternoon of Aug. 8, Evelyn Imperial has found it hard to sleep.

“Couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t do anything. We just like closure, and we cannot get it, because I don’t know what happened,” Imperial said Tuesday, two weeks after a fire destroyed Lahaina town, separating scores of family and friends who lost cell service and have struggled to find each other since the frenzied rush to evacuate.

Imperial last saw her husband Rafael heading in the direction of their Kopili Street home as she and her son drove to their jobs at Kaanapali hotels shortly after noon, just hours before the fire flared up.

“Between 3 or 3:30 I called him and spoke with him and asked him if he was working. He said no. But then it just cut off our conversation because there’s no signal,” Imperial said Tuesday. “And then from then I did not talk to him anymore.”

The FBI estimated Tuesday that between 1,000 to 1,100 people may be missing in the wake of the Lahaina fire — the number fluctuates and has been calculated through a painstaking process of cross-referencing names and combining lists of missing people reported to the American Red Cross, the Maui Police Department, Maui Emergency Management Agency and the FBI.

As they try to narrow down the list, officials are urging the public to submit DNA samples and to follow up with the FBI to make sure they have all the information they need on their loved ones — in some cases, the list only contains a first or last name, FBI Special Agent in Charge Steven Merrill said.

“So our request of the public is please, if you have already submitted complaints, whether to the Maui Police Department about a missing person or the FBI or anyone else, please follow back up to ensure they have the most up-to-date and accurate information, including dates of birth, what they look like, who they’re related to, further contact information,” Merrill said during a news conference at the county building on Tuesday afternoon.

Merrill said that about 2,500 people were unaccounted for under the consolidated list. Since then, the whereabouts of about 1,400 have been confirmed. That leaves just over 1,000 people. It’s more than the 850 people that the mayor reported Sunday evening, as the list continues to change, Merrill said.

Julie French, vice president of ANDE, whose rapid DNA technology is being used to help identify victims and match them to family members, said that “nearly three-fourths of remains that have been tested for DNA thus far have generated searchable DNA results.”

“We need family members to come forward and donate their samples so that we can compare them to these DNA profiles we’ve already generated from the remains,” French said.

Taking a sample involves a Q-tip swab of the cheek at the Family Assistance Center at the Hyatt Regency. French said 104 family reference samples have been collected so far, and multiple family members are encouraged to come at the same time to provide samples.

French emphasized that the DNA samples “are not being entered into any sort of government-run databases used for any other purposes” other than for making comparisons to victims’ remains. Maui County Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Martin, who is heading the Family Assistance Center, added that the samples are not retained by the FBI or MPD and that people’s immigration status will not be asked as part of the process.

As of Tuesday, the death toll remained at 115, and eight more victims were identified by police: Clyde Wakida, 74; Todd Yamafuji, 68; Antonia Molina, 64; Freeman Tam Lung, 59; Theresa Cook, 72; Joseph Schilling, 67; Narciso Baylosis Jr., 67; and Vanessa Baylosis, 67. All are from Lahaina except Cook, who is from California.

“Every single structure or area that’s been damaged by the fire is being and will be searched for human remains so that we can recover our loved ones,” Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said during the news conference. “I’ve said it before. I’m not going to stop saying it. We are going to do this right. We’re not going to do it fast. We cannot be in a rush to judgment.”

Pelletier said that “Baker Hill, Sugar and Front are the final divisions, if you will, of multi-level structures” that need to be searched. Crews are working to take down the layers so that teams can head in and search. The chief added that by the end of the search, there will likely be a number of confirmed dead and presumed dead; that number may take awhile to reach.

“Once the search is done, I can’t guarantee, nor can anyone say that we got everybody,” he said. “We’re going to do our darnedest to get it right and make every effort to do that. Two-thousand people on 9/11 were not recovered. We don’t have that type of devastation with the towers like we saw there, but we have an entire town that’s destroyed.”

He said a verified list of people who are unaccounted for will be made public soon but did not have a specific date.

When asked how many were children, Merrill said, “we don’t have anyone on the list that we know they have a date of birth that shows they’re a minor.”

“That doesn’t mean, as the chief mentioned, there are not minor victims,” he said. “I don’t know the answer. But on all of our lists we don’t have any names currently that show a date of birth of someone who is a child.”

As families search for missing loved ones, posters have appeared at distribution sites, public facilities and businesses.

In addition to putting up signs, Imperial said her family has called the Red Cross and submitted DNA samples to police.

Her son works at the Kaanapali Beach Resort, and they stayed there for two days after the fire, hoping Rafael would show up. When they stopped by their burned-down home days later, they found Rafael’s work truck and Evelyn’s car, but no sign of his pickup. Later a friend spotted it near the mill and sent them a photo. The back passenger-side door was open, which Evelyn hopes is a sign that he escaped during the fire.

She said her husband, whom she married about 35 years ago, worked three jobs to support his family on Maui and the Philippines. He’s friendly to everyone, “that kind of guy that like, he see you, he say hi to everybody,” which is why everyone from family to co-workers has been looking for him. It’s unclear which friends or neighbors saw him last — most of the stories create more questions than answers for the family.

“I don’t have any witness. God is my witness,” said Imperial, who’s now staying in Kihei with her kids and her sisters who also lost homes in the fire. “We’re still hoping, praying and hoping that we’ll see him.”

Family members searching for loved ones can contact MPD at unaccounted@mpd.net or the FBI at (808) 566-4300 or hn-command-post@ic.fbi.gov.

* Managing Editor Colleen Uechi can be reached at cuechi@mauinews.com.