A tourist from Southern California who had been missing since Dec. 19 has been found dead.
A tourist from Southern California who had been missing since Dec. 19 has been found dead.
A written Fire Department statement said the car rented by 31-year-old Yogi Yoswara of Alhambra, Calif., was spotted in Papaaloa River shortly after 1:30 p.m. on Monday. His body was found about 100 yards downriver.
Former state Rep. Jerry Chang, whom Yoswara’s family and friends had contacted to help find the missing man, said that an email from the owner of the Papaaloa cabins where Yoswara was staying prompted the river search.
“The email said that because it was raining that night, the road to the (cabin) may have been unpassable, so that gave them a clue,” Chang said Tuesday morning.
Chang said that Fire Chief Darren Rosario told him that the area had already been searched, but he told his men “to search the other side of the road, because (Yoswara) might have gotten lost.”
“I think that’s what happened, that he took the wrong road and tried to go over a stream and got washed away,” Chang said.”They went again with police and … found the vehicle without a passenger, and then later on found his body downstream.”
Yoswara was last seen between 8 and 9 p.m. the night of Dec. 19, Yoswara’s friend, The Rev. Heintje Tjahja, said in an email. The last person to reportedly see him alive was Marie Thompson, a Honolulu woman whom Yoswara befriended while on the Big Island.