Death of Peter Boy Kema

Also known as: Peter Boy, Peter Kema Jr.

Active: 1997–1997
Region: Hawaii Island (Big Island), Hawaii, USA
State: HI
Kind: Single
Status: Pleaded guilty
Victims: 1

Peter Kema Jr., known as "Peter Boy", was 6 years old when he vanished on the Big Island in 1997. His father claimed he had given the boy to a family acquaintance on Oahu, but no such person was found, and for two decades his case became the face of Hawaii's campaign against child abuse, with bumper stickers asking "So where's Peter?". Prosecutors reopened the case in 2014 and charged both parents in 2016. Prosecutors say the boy died of septic shock from an untreated wound after abuse. His mother pleaded guilty to manslaughter and testified against his father, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2017, led police to a remote stretch of the Puna coast where he said he had put the remains into the ocean, and was sentenced to 20 years. His remains were never found.

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Victims

We remember the people whose lives were taken.

Peter "Peter Boy" Kema Jr., 6 · 1997
A Big Island boy whose disappearance made him the symbol of a statewide campaign for missing and abused children.

Timeline of locations

April 2017
Puna coast near MacKenzie State Recreation Area (Recovery site, approximate area)
Under his plea deal, Peter Kema Sr. led investigators to a remote area on the Puna coast just south of MacKenzie State Recreation Area, off Highway 137. He said he had tried to cremate his son's body in 1997 and then put the remains into the ocean. Searches by several agencies found nothing.
April 5, 2017
Hilo Circuit Court (Court / trial, approximate area)
Peter Kema Sr. pleaded guilty to manslaughter and hindering prosecution on April 5, 2017, and was sentenced on July 24, 2017, to 20 years in prison. The boy's mother had earlier pleaded guilty to manslaughter and been sentenced to probation and time served in exchange for her testimony.

Sources

Each location also lists its own sources in the data file.