0:00

Hey Prime members, you can listen to

0:02

the vanished ad free on Amazon Music.

0:04

Download the app today. I

0:18

said, well, they still want to move. It's too

0:20

cold here. I said, I understand that. I understand

0:22

that. We'll help you find somewhere's warm. But

0:24

where do you want to go? He said, well, maybe

0:27

a private Y. And he went with it

0:29

and he made a goal of it for 15 years until

0:32

he disappeared off the face of the earth.

0:35

One day he did not call and

0:37

they tried calling him and they could not

0:39

get hold of him. That's

0:41

when everything blew up. There's something

0:43

wrong. That's like saying the

0:45

sun came up every day for

0:47

all of our lives and all of a sudden

0:50

the sun didn't come up. There's a problem. There

0:52

is a huge problem right away

0:54

when you do something wrong. There's

0:57

not one ounce of me since they won

0:59

that for a second thing that he would

1:01

have made to disappear. And some people, in

1:03

fact, my own nephew, who I'm real close

1:05

with, he says, Karen, when are

1:07

you ever going to just let it go

1:09

and kind of be done? I said, I

1:11

can't not advocate for my brother. I am

1:13

his voice. He has nobody. I can't undo

1:15

the crime that was done against him. Do

1:17

I think that there was a crime? And

1:19

yes, I do. On

1:22

the evening of September 2, 2021,

1:25

51-year-old Kevin Winters was at

1:27

one of his favorite restaurants having dinner in

1:29

Lahaina, Hawaii. About an hour

1:31

later, Kevin was seen on a camera at

1:33

an ATM a few doors down from the

1:36

restaurant where he deposited a check. It's

1:38

unclear where Kevin went after that time. It's

1:41

believed that Kevin had taken public transportation to the

1:43

restaurant that evening and the place he had been

1:45

staying was about 29 miles away. Kevin

1:48

showed up at the same ATM the following

1:51

morning, still wearing the same clothing he had

1:53

on the night before. Kevin

1:55

was once again making a deposit. Kevin

1:57

walked away from the ATM that morning and was now

2:00

never seen or heard from again. Kevin

2:02

had a close relationship with his mother.

2:04

The two spoke twice every single day.

2:06

When she didn't hear from Kevin and

2:08

wasn't able to reach him by phone,

2:10

she knew something was wrong. Thousands of

2:12

miles away in Michigan, Kevin's parents

2:15

knew it was time to report their son missing.

2:17

Nearly two and a half years later, Kevin's

2:19

family is still working to piece together the

2:22

trail of bizarre clues he left behind. I'm Marissa,

2:25

and from Wondery, this is episode 428 of The

2:27

Vanished. Part 1

2:30

of Kevin Winters' story, Lost in

2:32

Paradise. Audible's

2:53

rich variety of wellbeing content can

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I've been listening to their meditation

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be super helpful was called Letting Go, What's

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Visit audible.com/MIA or text MIA

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to 500-500. That's audible.com/ MIA

3:34

or text MIA to 500-500 to try Audible free for 30

3:36

days. In

3:42

2007, Kevin said goodbye to the cold winters in

3:45

his home state of Michigan and set out

3:47

to try to build a life in Hawaii. Kevin

3:49

didn't really have a plan. He just decided to

3:51

go and see if he could make it work.

3:54

And Kevin did make it work. He found a

3:56

job at a hostel where he could live in

3:58

exchange for housekeeping and maintenance. work

4:00

around the property. Kevin didn't burden

4:02

himself with unnecessary things. He

4:04

lived a simple life. He worked at the hostel

4:07

and on his days off, Kevin traveled

4:09

to a nearby town where he liked to shop

4:11

and get himself a nice meal. Kevin

4:13

did this for 14 years and would

4:15

talk to his mom on the phone twice a day. He kept

4:18

her informed about all of his daily

4:20

activities. But in the summer of

4:23

2021, something happened. Kevin was let go

4:25

from his job after being considered a

4:27

trusted employee for 14 years. Kevin's

4:30

family has been told a few different stories

4:32

about what happened at the hostel. First,

4:35

they were told that Kevin had taken

4:37

someone's food out of a community refrigerator.

4:39

Then they were told that he had taken an

4:41

intern's phone. Later, someone else said that

4:43

he had just moved a phone to a safe

4:45

space because it had been left out in a

4:47

common area of the hostel and Kevin was afraid

4:50

and they get stolen. Today, the

4:52

full story behind that remains unclear

4:54

to Kevin's family. But from

4:56

everything they've been told, it sounds more

4:58

like a misunderstanding than a reason to

5:00

fire a dependable employee of 14 years.

5:03

But Kevin's family believes this situation may

5:05

have been the catalyst for what was

5:07

about to happen next. They were able

5:09

to trace Kevin's steps through financial records,

5:11

which placed him at a restaurant in

5:13

ATM on the evening of September 2nd.

5:16

And he returned to that ATM a

5:18

second time on the morning of the

5:20

3rd. And then Kevin Winters vanished, seemingly

5:22

forever. However, they would

5:24

later uncover that there were settings of Kevin

5:27

after this time by people who actually knew

5:29

him. But something seemed off about all of

5:31

it. Yet they struggled to understand

5:33

why there's all of this strangeness surrounding

5:35

Kevin's disappearance. He

5:37

was just your average guy who wasn't

5:39

involved in anything high risk or nefarious.

5:42

So what in the world could have gone awry? First,

5:45

we want to go back and take a look at

5:47

Kevin's life so we can gain a better understanding of

5:49

who Kevin was and how he ended up 4,000 miles

5:52

away from home. Here's Kevin's sister,

5:54

Karen. I have

5:56

two other brothers. One lives here,

5:59

local, Kurt. And then my

6:01

other brother, the oldest brother, Donnie,

6:03

he lived in Wisconsin. So

6:05

it went Donnie and then Kevin, Kurt,

6:08

and then I was the baby. Kevin

6:10

was born and raised in

6:12

Jenison, Michigan. Kevin was

6:14

very outgoing, upbeat,

6:17

happy, always smiling, very humble,

6:19

I think a bit naive. Kevin's

6:22

younger brother Kurt has fond memories of growing

6:25

up with his siblings in Michigan. He

6:27

and Kevin shared many of the same interests and

6:29

always got along well. Kevin

6:32

is two years older

6:34

than I am. We were

6:36

just normal, normal upbringing, normally

6:39

outdoors a lot. Love to

6:41

play outdoors. And in fact, my

6:43

parents encouraged it. This day

6:45

and age, you don't think it's as much kids

6:47

are more computer, but we were always

6:49

outside building forts, riding

6:52

bicycles, that type of thing. As far

6:54

as Kevin, his younger

6:57

years, he was always likable,

6:59

had lots of friends, and

7:02

he would much rather be outside than him.

7:04

He'd help you with anything. And he

7:06

never changed as far as that, as

7:08

far as I could see through all

7:10

those years. When he was young, he

7:12

was that way. And up till

7:14

the last day he was seen, I

7:17

was told by many people again, that

7:19

he was, he stayed that way. He

7:21

was always that way, very outgoing, always

7:24

happy, go lucky, very good attitude, and

7:27

very friendly to everybody. Whether he knew you

7:29

or not, he would be friendly. He

7:31

would talk to people that he didn't know and

7:34

ask them how they are. It's just the

7:36

way we are. I am that way

7:38

a little bit to some point. I think he

7:40

is a little bit more. Anything to

7:43

do with shop class. And

7:45

I kind of did the same thing.

7:47

Metals and automotive, that type of thing.

7:50

And then on the weekends, a

7:52

lot of times he would spend

7:54

time going to boat shows, car

7:56

shows, that type of thing. We

7:59

also spoke to... Kevin's parents Maxine and

8:01

Dawn who were able to give

8:03

us their insight on Kevin from a parent's perspective.

8:07

He just loves so much that it's

8:09

just so hard to say. I

8:12

mean when he was growing up he

8:15

was mischievous and just very loving.

8:18

He was outgoing, loved

8:20

by so many and he played

8:22

baseball. He didn't like school

8:24

much at all. It was just very

8:26

high for him in school. He was

8:28

learning to save him. He was learning to

8:30

save him. As he grew up he

8:33

enjoyed outdoors. He loved

8:35

to work in the yards, in lawn

8:38

lawns and that type of thing.

8:41

Anything outside, cutting wood, splitting wood,

8:43

whatever. That was Kevin. He

8:46

at one time had dirt bike and

8:49

enjoyed that very much. He

8:51

was very active. He didn't care

8:53

about school that much. He did

8:56

do well. He went to, let's

8:58

see what you call it, it

9:00

wasn't in the school. It was an

9:03

automotive class. He took small

9:05

engine classes and stuff like

9:07

that, automotive stuff. That

9:09

he was interested in. He

9:11

did welding. He was good at that. He

9:14

was a hard worker when he worked. He

9:16

gave us all and

9:20

very protective of his

9:23

sister. If someone

9:25

was not treating her right, he

9:27

was right there to take care

9:29

of that. I don't mean violently, but I mean

9:31

he stuck up for her and

9:33

watched out for her. When

9:36

there was a thunderstorm and she was

9:38

scared, she'd always go to his

9:40

room, stay with him until it was over.

9:43

He was friends easily.

9:45

One of the things that was not always

9:48

in his favor is

9:50

he always believed everybody was honest

9:53

truth. Sometimes that didn't

9:55

pay off very good because not

9:57

everybody was honest. believe

10:00

him. He made friends with

10:02

anybody and everybody. If someone

10:04

was in need and he had it,

10:07

that's just the way he was. Karen

10:10

explained that after high school, Kevin found

10:12

work doing hands-on things that he enjoyed.

10:15

Before Kevin moved to Hawaii, he

10:17

was kind of a jack of

10:19

all trades. He did work for

10:21

a heavy equipment place called AIS

10:23

Construction. He did a lot of

10:25

scrap, where he'd bring scrap material to turn

10:28

in for money. Just various jobs

10:30

he had here, but primarily I would

10:32

say the heavy equipment place. He liked

10:34

to rent on things. He was kind

10:36

of a more mechanic type of person.

10:38

His job did not consist of being

10:40

a mechanic there, but back here in

10:43

Michigan, that's what he would do. Either

10:45

that, he'd love to tinker on. He

10:47

always had a Jeep or fixing one

10:49

up. As Kevin

10:51

got older, he grew tired of the cold

10:53

Michigan winters and longed to move to a

10:55

warmer climate. Kurt said that first,

10:57

Kevin tried Florida, but that didn't pan

10:59

out. So how

11:01

it came about that Kevin ended

11:03

up in Maui, Hawaii. Kevin

11:06

grew up just like the rest of our

11:08

family in Michigan, but Kevin did

11:11

not like the cold. As

11:13

Kevin got older, past 30

11:15

now, he's approaching middle

11:18

age, he did not like the cold. He

11:21

hated the cold. In

11:23

Michigan, he did not care for the snow. I remember

11:26

maybe a year or two before

11:29

Kevin left, he was an

11:31

outdoorsy person. So we would do

11:33

outdoors things. We would cut firewood,

11:35

split firewood, stack firewood. Kevin wouldn't

11:37

wear one coat. Kevin would

11:40

wear three coats. He looked three times

11:42

larger. And I asked him

11:44

several times, how can you move that many

11:46

coats on? He goes, I have to

11:48

wear this many coats. I'm cold. I'm very

11:50

cold. He just did not like cold weather.

11:52

He did not like the snow and the wind. So

11:55

that's why Kevin moved to Hawaii

11:57

where it was warm. warm

12:00

year round there and that's what

12:02

he enjoyed. He did try Florida a

12:04

year, maybe a year and a half

12:06

before Kevin left for Hawaii. He

12:09

tried Florida. He went there for a

12:11

short period and came up with zilts

12:13

for employment for jobs. He just couldn't

12:16

find the thing. At least nothing that

12:18

appealed to Kevin. And that's when we

12:20

talked. I said, well, that

12:22

didn't work out. Okay. That didn't

12:24

work out. You're back, but you're still in

12:26

the cold state. He goes, I'm back. But he

12:29

goes, I still want to move. It's too cold here.

12:31

I said, I understand that. I understand that we'll help

12:33

you find somewhere's warm, but where do you want to

12:36

go? He said, well, maybe I'll

12:38

try and why. So I don't think it

12:40

was anything that he, he studied. So in

12:42

other words, he, I don't think

12:44

he studied prices. He would make decisions

12:46

quickly. So he wouldn't study things for

12:48

a long period of time. Like most

12:50

people would maybe you or I would

12:53

analyze it, check it out, make sure it's,

12:55

it's feasible as far as money wise, as

12:57

far as finding a job. No,

13:00

you would pray about it. He'd

13:03

go about working on his dream. He

13:06

had the, uh, his idea and his

13:08

plan set on Hawaii and that's

13:10

what he was going to do. And if somebody

13:12

showed him some pictures, look how beautiful this is.

13:14

And back when we were that age,

13:16

that's kind of the place a dream of

13:19

everybody is this old someday I want to

13:21

visit. Well, why? Well, Kevin didn't have his,

13:23

his dream set on going on a vacation.

13:26

He was going to live there. So

13:28

his next thing was is sell everything,

13:30

get the tickets and get over there.

13:33

And lo and behold, he, he didn't

13:35

have too much trouble finding a job

13:38

right away. He found jobs there and

13:40

he found a way to make a living. I don't think

13:42

he was rich. I think he

13:44

lived day to day meal to meal for 15

13:46

years. He survived there until

13:48

one day he disappeared, but he was

13:50

very resourceful. Relocating

13:53

to Hawaii is a big move that comes

13:55

with its own unique set of challenges. It

13:57

can be isolating. You can't just take a road trip.

14:00

home to visit family and plane

14:02

tickets are usually quite costly but

14:04

Kevin was happy there and kept in touch with his

14:06

mother like clockwork twice every day.

14:10

My mom and dad had contact with him

14:12

twice a day just to see how he's

14:14

doing. My mom is very

14:16

worried about us eating good and

14:19

staying busy so her daily thing

14:22

was to know how many

14:24

rooms he cleaned at the place of

14:26

employment he had because that kind of gauged

14:28

how busy he was so he would have

14:30

to clean rooms and do

14:33

like hotel type work there for

14:35

the hostel. She'd want to know

14:37

what he ate that day and what

14:40

he was doing. The rest of

14:42

the family did not speak to Kevin

14:44

nearly as often as my parents did.

14:46

We'd not on a daily basis like

14:48

they did. It was monthly or

14:51

it was on holidays you know what

14:53

I mean. We really didn't need to

14:55

talk to him every day or every

14:57

week or every month because my mother

14:59

was checking with him at least once

15:01

but mostly twice a day. One in

15:04

the morning, one at night and she would

15:06

update us because she calls us very

15:08

frequently the same way she did Kevin. She

15:10

calls at least twice a day and she

15:12

wants to know what you're doing just like

15:14

she has for years. Well with

15:16

that said she would fill us in on

15:19

everything Kevin did. So if he was busy

15:21

at work and he cleaned four rooms that

15:23

day I would know it that evening. Kevin

15:26

had found work at a hostel and it's his

15:29

family's understanding that Kevin worked there in exchange for

15:31

a place to live. Though this

15:33

isn't completely clear to Kevin's family as

15:35

they later found Kevin's bank records after

15:37

he disappeared and they could see that

15:40

there were periods of time where he

15:42

was collecting unemployment which may or

15:44

may not hold some significance in this

15:46

case but it's something worth noting. Kevin

15:49

moved to Hawaii in the fall of 2007. Kevin

15:53

did never come back to the mainland after

15:55

he moved. I had to get him to

15:57

come back here but yeah he's like why?

16:00

Kevin lived in Wailuku, Hawaii.

16:02

Kevin worked at the hostel for 14 years. So

16:05

Kevin, his daily routine at the hostel, he

16:08

was there again, he was kind of a

16:10

jack of all trades. He would do mainly

16:12

housekeeping because they had quite a few

16:14

people that come and go at the

16:17

hostel or fix something. It

16:19

wasn't apparently uncommon for someone to ask

16:22

him, like a contractor, whatever

16:24

that was there, to help out and

16:26

fix something. Kevin

16:28

lived a modest life. He didn't have tons

16:30

of money. He would sometimes barter for things

16:32

that he needed. But Kevin had enough to

16:34

get by and live in paradise. Maxine

16:37

would send Kevin some money here and there

16:39

to help him with his living expenses. But

16:41

it wasn't much as Maxine and Don are

16:44

retired and live on a fixed income. But

16:46

they did what they could to help Kevin out. Kurt

16:49

said that Kevin didn't need more than he had.

16:51

He was happy. I

16:53

don't think he cared for all those things. He

16:55

hated expensive. Because none of us

16:57

are wealthy. But it kind of tends

16:59

to attract those types of people, the

17:02

more wealthy to an island like that.

17:04

But he tolerated it and he learned to

17:06

accept it. And he learned to somehow get

17:08

around it by doing what he

17:10

can, whatever he can cut, whatever he

17:12

can work more to get around it.

17:14

Because he knew that he couldn't tolerate

17:17

the cold. So he had one choice,

17:19

either tolerate the high prices and

17:21

the people, the crowdiness, and

17:24

all the things that come along with being on

17:26

an island or go back

17:28

home and freeze. Don

17:30

and Maxine could tell that their son was content

17:32

living this simple life that he had in Hawaii.

17:35

They offered to fly Kevin home for visits from

17:37

time to time. But he didn't seem to want

17:39

to leave the island life. It's

17:42

kind of funny, the way he was, and

17:44

this was most of his life really, is

17:47

he lived one day at a time, never

17:49

planned much for the future at

17:52

all. He kept life

17:54

simple, did what he enjoyed doing,

17:57

always did the jobs where...

18:00

The people that we worked for were happy with

18:02

him. None of our family,

18:04

nobody lived in Hawaii ever.

18:07

He had jobs, different jobs. He worked

18:09

for a bus company at one time.

18:12

Then he worked at several different restaurants.

18:15

This is over a 13-year period. So

18:18

I think he went there with

18:20

the idea of maybe of coming

18:22

back, but he stayed there. We

18:25

offered to pay his way back to

18:27

visit a few times. We talked

18:30

to him every day for years. He

18:33

moved to Maui. I would send him money and

18:36

call him every day. I would

18:38

ask him what he had to eat. Mom

18:40

always asks the same question. So what

18:43

you're doing, what you had to eat. And

18:46

very often he would send pictures of

18:49

the plate of food he was going to eat just to

18:51

give her an idea. Since

18:53

there was so much physical distance between Kevin and

18:55

his family, they weren't there to witness the everyday

18:58

things going on in his life. They only knew

19:00

what he had told them over the phone, which

19:02

made things more difficult to piece together once he

19:04

was gone. One potentially important

19:07

aspect of this story is a garage

19:09

or storage unit that Kevin had. This

19:12

wasn't a storage facility that you may imagine with

19:14

cameras or key codes and a log of when

19:16

people come and go. This

19:18

storage space was one of the things that Kevin

19:20

bartered for. And it was basically a

19:22

garage that he was using to house his staff. This

19:25

is where Kevin kept his vehicle that he

19:27

loved, a Jeep Wrangler. Karen told us more.

19:31

We found that he had a storage garage.

19:34

So right down the street from the hostel is

19:36

this place called Noble Travel. And

19:38

that lady there, she'd eat lunch with

19:40

them. And then he there again bartered

19:42

for, he did work around mode and

19:45

just took care of the grounds, I

19:47

guess. And so he lived right up

19:49

the street at the hostel. And then

19:51

he'd go down there and she let

19:53

him use the garage. He had

19:55

a couch in the garage, the storage

19:57

unit, as well as his Jeep. The

20:00

storage unit did not have any log

20:02

visits or cameras, and there's no documentation

20:04

of when he was last there. Kurt

20:08

and Kevin had a shared love of Jeeps.

20:10

When they spoke on the phone, it was

20:12

often about Kevin's Jeep. Kevin

20:15

was a Jeep enthusiast. He loved Jeeps,

20:17

but in my younger years, growing up,

20:19

we always had Jeeps, but I was

20:21

too. I shared a lot

20:23

of the same likings that Kevin did. So

20:25

he liked Jeeps. I liked Jeeps. Older

20:28

Jeeps. One of the things

20:30

in their conversations, one of the huge

20:32

topics in Kevin's life, his world

20:35

seemed to revolve around his

20:37

Jeep. One of the first things

20:39

that he did when he got a job, started

20:42

getting things together, started earning

20:44

money, he purchased a Jeep while he

20:46

was there. So that Jeep, any

20:48

spare moment, any spare money he had, you

20:50

would dump it in that Jeep, working on

20:53

it, fixing it up. You

20:55

would always try to improve it,

20:57

modify it with better seats, better

20:59

suspension, lift kit, monster

21:02

motor tires, all these

21:04

types of things that are kind of impractical,

21:06

but those are the things that Kevin enjoyed

21:08

to do. So that's what he

21:10

did. It was in storage in

21:13

Maui, just a few miles from where

21:15

Kevin worked. That Jeep

21:17

was left there, and a lot

21:19

of Kevin's belongings were left

21:22

there in that storage. An

21:24

important thing to note here about Kevin's

21:27

Jeep is that it hadn't been running

21:29

for some time before Kevin disappeared, but

21:31

Kevin still had ways of getting around

21:33

by utilizing public transportation on the island.

21:36

His Jeep was not running for at

21:38

least a year, year and a half

21:40

prior to when he disappeared. Kevin

21:43

would use the Maui transportation. Kevin

21:45

would use the Maui transportation system,

21:47

the bus, to get from Waialuku

21:50

to the Lahaina area. He

21:53

had a couple of different regular establishments

21:55

that he'd go to there. Pretty

21:57

much a creature habit, twice a week.

22:00

on his days off and he liked

22:02

Tommy Bahama, one of the stores that

22:04

was there. And because I had

22:06

heard from so many, he was always well-capped

22:09

and dressed real nice, always wearing

22:11

pants and like a Tommy Bahama shirt. He

22:13

likes to go to the Lahaina area like

22:15

two days a week and just

22:17

go get a good meal and have his

22:19

dad take cranberry, have a couple drinks and

22:22

take some audio transportation back. The

22:24

first people to realize that anything was

22:26

amiss were Kevin's parents. Since

22:28

Kevin had a regular schedule of calling

22:31

his mother, Maxine noticed immediately when the

22:33

calls stopped coming in. She

22:35

told us that during Kevin's last call to her on

22:37

September 2, 2021, Kevin

22:40

sounded a little rushed because there seemed to

22:42

be something wrong with his phone. The

22:45

last time I remember talking to him is he

22:47

said his phone didn't work but I

22:49

just will plug it in then. He

22:51

said okay and okay was the last word I

22:54

heard from him. And I

22:56

don't remember if we talked about food he

22:58

ate or rooms he cleaned

23:00

or anything. He just says called and

23:03

says his phone wasn't working good. The

23:06

geographical distance between Kevin and his family

23:08

made this a challenge from the very

23:10

beginning. They couldn't just run over and

23:12

check on Kevin. They didn't have friends

23:14

or family locally to call and see if

23:17

Kevin was okay. During the last

23:19

call, Kevin mentioned that his phone wasn't working

23:21

right. So at first they assumed that maybe

23:23

it was broken and he was in the process of

23:25

getting a new one. They figured that they

23:27

would hear from Kevin within the next few days.

23:30

We knew he was gone. Something happened. He

23:33

never called back and he didn't call the

23:35

next day at all. Sometimes

23:38

he would go somewhere or something

23:41

and it would be several days and then all

23:43

of a sudden we'd be back.

23:45

That didn't happen often but once in

23:47

a while he would be doing something

23:49

and sometimes it was a slow and

23:51

slow. He went through a few moments

23:54

and then he'd hear afterwards well his phone was

23:57

broken and he didn't have the money and this

23:59

kind of thing. It wasn't

24:01

a thing that happened all the time, my

24:03

lands. That might have happened three,

24:05

four times over the whole span,

24:08

but it did happen. So we

24:10

didn't jump the gun right away and

24:13

call everybody and run up a

24:15

red flag because that had

24:17

happened. So it was a span

24:19

of a couple, three days anyway,

24:21

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24:23

called the police because then

24:25

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vanished. When

26:55

Don and Maxine decided that too many days had

26:57

gone by without any word from Kevin, we

26:59

knew it was time to call the Maui County Police Department

27:02

and report their son missing. Supposedly

27:05

it wasn't long enough that he

27:07

was missing yet so they weren't

27:09

going to do much of anything. Then

27:12

what was odd is during that time, somewhere

27:15

during that time the place he worked and

27:18

even his old boss, I can't remember

27:20

names, called and asked us

27:22

if we knew where Kevin was and

27:25

that struck me odd that we

27:28

figured the place he was working

27:30

would know where he was but they were

27:32

asking us. So that

27:34

struck me odd and then I

27:37

started to push the police

27:39

a little bit and the things

27:41

weren't right and the courts, well

27:43

maybe I shouldn't say this but I'm going to,

27:46

they were very uncooperative.

27:50

The guy that got the job, the

27:52

detective that was assigned to me, he

27:54

sounded like he was half asleep,

27:57

he had no interest whatsoever.

27:59

you could tell and

28:01

then he agreed after we asked

28:03

questions to check things out and

28:06

call us back. And he never

28:08

called us back. And we'd call him and

28:10

he was very hard to get a hold of. And

28:13

when he did, he

28:15

didn't really tell us anything. Kurt

28:18

could tell that his parents were worried sick

28:20

about Kevin. And they just weren't

28:22

getting anywhere when they phoned law enforcement in

28:24

Maui. What they didn't know at

28:26

the time was how much of a problem

28:28

this would be going forward. As Kevin's disappearance

28:30

turned from days to weeks then months and

28:33

eventually years. In

28:35

two days, okay, maybe his phone died.

28:37

Maybe it got ran over by a

28:39

car or a boss who knows. But

28:41

then to have three days? No,

28:44

no, that's not right. And then a

28:46

week went by, that's just totally

28:48

absurd. There was nothing they could do. They

28:50

just didn't sleep. They just didn't eat. But

28:53

as far as anything anybody could do, no, they

28:55

just were worried sick. But

28:57

absolutely nothing you could do. That's a long way

28:59

to the way. The only thing we could

29:01

do at that point is rely on the

29:04

authorities on that island to give

29:06

us information, which they

29:08

were very little help. After explaining what I've

29:10

just explained to you, the same thing was

29:12

explained to them 15 years every

29:15

day, at least twice talk

29:17

to Kevin. After relaying all that

29:19

information to the authorities on that

29:21

island, they wouldn't even return my

29:23

parents phone call. This is a

29:25

whereabouts of their dear son that's missing.

29:28

Karen explained that when her parents first

29:31

attempted to report Kevin missing, stating that

29:33

they hadn't heard from him since September

29:35

2nd, officers spoke to someone who had

29:37

reported seeing Kevin days later on the

29:39

sixth or seventh. The

29:42

reason they didn't file a missing persons

29:44

report, I was told is a bartender

29:47

or bartenders at Heng Lu

29:49

said they saw Kevin in there.

29:52

And the timeline of that would have been

29:54

on September 6th or 7th. The

29:56

police report indicates that somebody, the bartender said on

29:58

September 6th or 7th, it was a September 6th

30:01

about is when they can confirm

30:03

that, yep, somebody's seen him here and so

30:06

they dropped it. And then a

30:08

report wasn't actually filed until I

30:10

think about the 18th or 19th

30:12

of that month. This

30:15

sighting of Kevin, or perhaps sightings, is

30:17

something that we'll come back to later

30:19

on. But this seems to have caused

30:21

a significant delay in filing a missing

30:24

persons report and beginning an actual investigation.

30:26

Kevin's family kept pressing law enforcement to

30:28

believe them that he was in fact

30:30

missing. And by mid to late September,

30:32

around the 18th or 19th,

30:34

Kevin was finally considered a missing

30:36

person. So now we're going

30:38

to go back and go over what's since

30:40

been uncovered about Kevin's disappearance. In

30:43

the lead up to Kevin going missing, there

30:45

was something strange going on with his job.

30:47

He had worked at the hostel for 14

30:49

years and loved it. Kevin's family didn't know

30:52

anything had gone wrong at the hostel. But

30:54

as the investigator began poking around, he learned

30:56

that Kevin had recently lost his job. Kevin's

30:59

family has heard that this happened some time

31:01

in the second half of August and that

31:03

Kevin was given a week or so to

31:05

move out. They've also been told that this

31:07

happened on September 1st. So the real story

31:09

has been difficult for them to pin down.

31:11

But Karen told us what she knows. So

31:15

I'm just reading my notes here and the

31:17

good friend that they called, he

31:19

told that Kevin was fired on

31:21

September 1. But if I look

31:23

at the police report and any notes indicating it

31:26

was two weeks prior to that, Kevin

31:28

came to lose his job at

31:30

the hostel. I was told because

31:32

he took a phone from

31:34

an intern who had been

31:36

working there for the summer and she

31:39

did retrieve it back. So it

31:42

was a temporary thing. But that's supposedly

31:44

why he would let go. But

31:47

this phone situation isn't the only reason that

31:49

Karen's been given as to why Kevin

31:51

was fired. Personally

31:54

I was told that he took somebody's

31:56

food out of the refrigerator because at

31:58

a hostel they... leave

32:00

food when they leave fast forward. Then

32:02

the detective had told me that it

32:04

was, no, he took interns

32:06

or somebody that was working there for summer

32:09

help and took their foot, her phone. And

32:11

then fast forward even further. I've talked to a contractor.

32:13

He's like, he didn't take a phone. He moved it

32:16

out of the window still. So that's

32:18

the story behind the phone. And I

32:20

can't imagine he'd let somebody go after

32:22

a 14 year employee over something

32:24

like that. It just doesn't make any sense.

32:27

And everyone I talked to was like, he

32:29

wouldn't take anyone's phone. But yeah, that's

32:31

the reasoning I was told. There

32:33

was this contractor that I

32:35

had a conversation with him about

32:37

six months after. And he's

32:40

the one who gave Kevin the ride to

32:42

his garage, you know, the day that he

32:44

was let go, which that whole timeline doesn't make

32:46

any sense either. I said, what did he say?

32:48

You were probably the last person that actually spoke

32:51

to him that I know of. And

32:53

I said, what did he say to you? And he said, I

32:55

wish I would have never moved the phone. And

32:57

so when I asked the detective, I said, don't

32:59

you have any footage of this? I mean, you

33:01

let my brother go. And then he disappears. How

33:04

is that not reasoning to be like, geez,

33:07

you guys should pull the video. What happened

33:09

here? Because apparently there was like a common

33:11

area downstairs in the hospital where everyone would

33:13

hang out that worked there. The

33:16

window was all open in like the sidewalk

33:18

goes right by the window. He moved the

33:20

phone out of the window so it wouldn't

33:22

get stolen. So that's kind of hearsay. And

33:25

nobody has said, Oh,

33:27

well, yeah, he has this incident and this

33:29

incident. And we're going to have to let him go

33:31

because this keeps happening. And

33:33

he's stealing stuff or doing what? No,

33:35

nothing. That's why this whole thing, when

33:38

it started out, they told my parents,

33:40

he took food out of the refrigerator,

33:42

which again, I don't know about you,

33:45

but it's like, well, that's what you've tired somebody

33:47

over. And then the

33:50

story changed to know it was a phone.

33:52

And I said, was there something on the

33:54

phone? Was it just the

33:56

misunderstanding? Is the girl still there? And

33:58

they're like, no, she's fine. She

34:00

has her phone back from like that didn't make no sense

34:02

and why would you let him go and like

34:05

the timing of all This like everything though. Yeah,

34:07

none of it makes sense Kevin

34:09

doesn't have a criminal record and as far as

34:11

anyone is aware There was no

34:14

pattern of him stealing things over the course of the

34:16

14 years that he had worked at the hostel

34:18

Kevin's family believes that there must be more to

34:21

this story Was there another reason that

34:23

Kevin was pushed out of his job? Karen

34:25

explained that in the months before Kevin

34:27

disappeared new management had taken over the

34:29

hospital after the former owner sold

34:31

it The new

34:33

ownership of the hostel took

34:36

place before Kevin disappeared just

34:38

before I'd say a couple months

34:40

and the fact that they were all friends

34:43

with the former owner of

34:45

the hostel Who also sold the

34:47

hostel and left island? I

34:49

haven't put my finger on it Like what

34:52

what went on with that little triangle? But

34:54

I've heard from many that they were trying

34:56

to gentrify it and like diversify it And

34:58

I don't know if I've even ever talked

35:00

to a former owner other than a brief

35:03

phone call And he was very

35:05

short and basically just like yeah, I wish you

35:07

well I've only seen a

35:09

text that he had sent to a

35:11

former co-worker that says he fears Kevin

35:14

may have met with tragedy Which is

35:16

when I got involved basically from obviously

35:18

being a bit alarmed by that Statement my

35:20

head asked him to tell me his situation

35:22

with him And he said he was this

35:24

former the former owner there But he sold

35:27

the hostel and basically just direct any question

35:29

I have to the police and what have

35:31

you so that's when Kurt had reached out

35:34

to the new owner and He

35:36

was just asking him questions and he said what

35:38

are you frickin Perry Mason? And

35:41

he was the only person that I

35:43

can think of that was rude Because

35:46

when we start when you start asking questions

35:48

kind of just like the same thing We're

35:50

doing this a timeline and asking they just

35:52

know automatically it's on the defense It's like

35:54

you probably didn't even really hardly know my

35:56

brother. So why is it relevant if he's

35:58

really a missing person? And a

36:00

14-year employee, wouldn't you want to see him back?

36:03

My thought is, is I think they just wanted to

36:05

get rid of him in lieu of

36:07

the work trade he was taking up space. When

36:11

Kevin disappeared, there was a check for him

36:13

left behind at the hostel. Stories

36:15

have also changed about this as well.

36:17

Remember, Kevin's family believed that he had

36:19

been living at the hostel in exchange

36:21

for working there, so he wasn't receiving

36:23

a paycheck. Though there were times that

36:26

he was receiving unemployment, we don't

36:28

know the reasoning behind the inconsistencies with

36:30

this. Were there times that Kevin was

36:32

getting paid, perhaps during the busy season,

36:34

and went on unemployment during the off

36:36

times? It's difficult to know for

36:38

sure. And if everything wasn't always on the

36:40

up and up, that could be an explanation

36:42

for why much of this part of the

36:45

story has been hush-hush. He

36:47

wasn't receiving a paycheck.

36:50

He basically worked for his room, but yet,

36:53

in doing a lot of research on his

36:55

records and stuff, he was still getting unemployment

36:58

at many points, so I'm really

37:00

confused. I found emails that he had

37:03

unemployment coming in earlier that year. I

37:05

was told as far as the

37:07

paychecks that Kevin had sitting there,

37:10

they had tried to reach out to

37:12

him, I believe, on September

37:14

3, and then he

37:17

didn't pick it up. So then later on,

37:19

when I questioned the detective about it,

37:21

he said, no, that was a severance

37:23

check, and they tore it up because

37:25

he never picked it up, obviously, because

37:27

he's gone. If he wasn't receiving

37:30

a paycheck, why did they call him to

37:32

tell him to come pick up his last

37:34

check? And then the paycheck turned into a

37:36

severance check down the road, because

37:38

any stories that you'll see where

37:40

the news media did anything on

37:42

this whole situation, they kept saying

37:44

his last check. Well, I

37:46

was told later on, oh, no, no, no, that's a

37:49

severance check, and we didn't have to give them that.

37:51

They were being gracious. There again, either

37:53

he was working there for work trade,

37:55

and wasn't there any type of contract

37:58

or anything written up? I

38:00

mean, I don't know how it works. Details there are

38:02

all a little bit foggy too. Well, it

38:04

seems like then if they wrote a check, they'd have

38:06

record of it. And so I

38:09

went, you know, that angle too, nothing

38:11

gets looked into. And I'm like, all

38:14

right, well, is it a paycheck or a suffrage

38:16

check? Because that seems to be changing too. Just

38:18

like, is it food in the fridge or did

38:21

he take a phone supposedly? It

38:23

just doesn't make sense. None of it does. And

38:25

your stories, they just keep changing. The

38:28

situation with Kevin's job is strange

38:30

and it may be significant or

38:32

maybe not. To Kevin's family, there's

38:34

something about it that doesn't seem as clear cut

38:36

as it should. Karen was later

38:38

able to track down a contractor who had

38:41

worked at the hostel alongside Kevin. She mentioned

38:43

him briefly a few minutes ago. He

38:45

had told her that Kevin hadn't taken the phone but

38:48

moved it so that it wouldn't get stolen. And

38:50

he also said that Kevin voiced regret for moving

38:52

it because now he was left in a

38:55

bad spot. The contractor told Karen that

38:57

he was the one who had helped Kevin move

38:59

his stuff from the hostel into the garage that

39:01

he had for storage. I

39:04

know that the contractor that I spoke with,

39:06

Kevin was already fired at that time. He

39:09

helped Kevin get his stuff out of the

39:11

hostel and bring it down the

39:13

hill to his garage. And

39:15

then that's where the slate

39:17

blanks because it's like, what happened after that?

39:20

There was another witness that Karen had tracked

39:22

down who claimed that she had seen Kevin

39:25

around this time. She said he looked

39:27

mad and she thought that he was heading out of town.

39:30

There was a gal that I spoke to at

39:32

the Y bar, which is just down the street

39:34

from the hostel. And she

39:36

said she saw him leaving town. I

39:38

wish I could give you the exact

39:41

date. She said she saw him leaving

39:43

town and looked very upset and mad,

39:45

read the face. Normally, he

39:47

was always smiling and would say

39:49

hi to everybody. And she

39:51

said she wished she would have went out and said something to

39:53

him because that was the last anyone seen him. She

39:55

stopped having walking by heading like out of

39:57

town, which is where the Maui transfer. like

40:00

towards the bus stop, yeah that would make sense

40:02

because if he was heading to the bus stop,

40:05

Lahaina, you know, a good 35-40 minutes. I

40:08

can only assume that it was when he left

40:10

town and took the Maui transportation to the

40:13

Lahaina area, which is

40:15

where that first Hawaiian or whatever

40:17

it's called, state savings bank is,

40:20

because he would frequent Maui Brewing Company,

40:22

which was in that area. The

40:25

information Karen was given by this witness lines

40:27

up with what we know happened next. On

40:30

the evening of September 2nd, 2021,

40:33

Kevin was at the Maui Brewing Company in

40:35

Lahaina. This is the area that Kevin's

40:37

family mentioned that he liked to travel to on

40:39

his days off, to grab a meal and do

40:41

some shopping. About an hour

40:44

later, Kevin was at an ATM nearby,

40:46

depositing a check. No one knows

40:48

where Kevin went after that, but the next morning

40:50

Kevin was seen on video at the same ATM

40:52

once again. He was still wearing

40:54

the same clothes and making a

40:56

second deposit. This is the

40:58

last confirmed sighting of Kevin. One

41:01

thing that's important to discuss here are

41:03

the unique geographical locations of these areas

41:05

that Kevin was seen and known to

41:07

frequent. The area where Kevin worked and

41:09

had his garage was in Wailuku, which

41:11

is roughly a 29-mile trip by

41:13

vehicle to Lahaina. If you were to look

41:16

at a map and draw a straight line

41:18

between those locations, in the middle

41:20

you would find a vast area of

41:22

lush wilderness, the West Maui Mountains. And

41:24

that straight line drawn on a map is not how

41:27

you would travel from one location to the other. The

41:29

roadway to get from Lahaina to Wailuku by

41:32

car or bus winds along the coastline. So

41:34

if Kevin had been at the Maui Brewing

41:36

Company in Lahaina, where he spent about $27

41:38

that evening, then

41:40

visited the ATM around

41:43

9.45pm and returned to the ATM again

41:45

at 6.45am, it

41:48

seems unlikely that Kevin would have traveled all the

41:50

way back to the area of the hostel and

41:52

his garage, and then returned to

41:54

the ATM in Lahaina the following morning once

41:56

again. Plus, he still had the

41:58

same clothes on. But where Kevin

42:00

may have stayed that night remains a mystery. He

42:03

wasn't drowning his Jeep because it wasn't working. So

42:05

that wasn't there for him to sleep in. No

42:08

one knows of any friends in that area that he

42:10

would have stayed with. And no one has come forward

42:12

claiming that he stayed with them that night. What

42:15

Karen has been able to piece together about that evening

42:17

is that Kevin visited two or

42:19

three places in the shopping center where the

42:21

brewing company and ATM are located. Beyond

42:24

those two spots, Karen was also told by

42:26

the investigator that Kevin had gone to a

42:28

bar there. We talked

42:30

to a waitress and I

42:32

had never heard one confirmation that he

42:34

was at Maui Brewing Company from an

42:36

actual person. The only reason I know

42:38

that he was there is because of

42:40

his ATM, his bank transaction, in

42:43

lines that he was at Maui Brewing Company.

42:46

And it wouldn't be uncommon for him

42:48

from what I hear because Maui Brewing

42:50

Company is real close to Dolly's, which

42:52

is right in that triangle by

42:55

Maui Brewing Company. There's like

42:57

a McDonald's, there's Maui Brewing Company

42:59

and Dolly's to walk over there

43:01

because they have happy hour going on until I

43:03

guess eight. I did confirm

43:05

he was at Dolly's and

43:07

it was obviously within walking distance

43:10

for his nightcap. I talked to the

43:12

waitress there and I said, did he order a

43:14

lot of drinks specifically? I mean, he was a

43:16

regular here. And she's like,

43:18

no, I mean, in his bank

43:20

history, all his transactions, there was

43:22

no withdrawals. So that I

43:25

mean, at most you'd spend $20 total

43:27

for like food and drink, which

43:29

obviously in Maui, that's a drink

43:31

or two maybe. Did

43:33

Kevin go home with someone that night on

43:35

the beach? No one knows for sure. But

43:38

it seems like Kevin's trail went cold on

43:40

the morning of September 3rd after he had

43:42

visited the ATM the second time and his

43:44

last phone ping was just a few miles

43:47

away. The last

43:49

proof of life was him depositing money

43:51

early on September 3 at

43:53

that same ATM. Nobody was

43:55

with him on the ATM footage.

43:58

The check was from my mom. And she would send

44:00

him a little bit, what she could every month

44:03

to help him out, because obviously she knew the

44:05

cross the living there was so high. The

44:07

last GPS data showed on September three

44:10

at 11, 12 in the morning that Kevin

44:12

was in the kind of poly area. Along

44:15

it's like by the kind of poly

44:17

golf course. It's kind of

44:19

in the area of like wallers or

44:22

whalers village. So that's where

44:24

the phone was last pinged. And when

44:27

he was last seen at depositing money at

44:29

the ATM. That's the question. We have no

44:31

idea. Where did he go after that?

44:34

And that's when his phone was last pinged

44:36

that next morning on September three. And

44:38

then nobody can prove that

44:40

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47:11

In the days that followed Kevin's disappearance,

47:14

his parents were back in Michigan beginning to

47:16

worry about him and discussing at what point

47:18

they should call the police. We

47:20

know the timeline of Kevin getting fired is

47:22

still a source of confusion for Karen

47:25

because she's been told different stories about

47:27

when this actually happened and precisely what

47:29

went down. Was it two weeks before?

47:31

The day prior? One question

47:33

we had was if there was any proof that

47:35

Kevin had secured a new place to live, whether

47:37

that be an apartment, temporary room

47:39

somewhere, anything. We also wondered

47:42

if the plan was to stay in the

47:44

garage temporarily until he could find a more

47:46

permanent solution. We know there was a

47:48

couch inside of the garage. It wouldn't be ideal,

47:50

but at least Kevin would have a roof over

47:52

his head. But was there any proof that he had

47:54

been living in there? We also know from

47:57

the timeline that it would be unlikely that Kevin went

47:59

to the AT&T. at the brewery at

48:01

9.45. Return to the garage then back

48:03

to the ATM nearly 30 miles away

48:05

again at 6.45 a.m.

48:08

But we still wanted to explore this possibility. It

48:10

may not explain where Kevin stayed on the evening

48:13

of the second but what if he had returned

48:15

there at a later time? Kevin

48:18

could have lived in his garage

48:21

after his terminations in the

48:23

hostel. He had a couch in the

48:25

garage, the storage unit, as well as

48:27

his Jeep. So he could have stayed

48:29

there. I don't have any proof

48:31

that he had secured any type of

48:34

establishment to stay at but

48:36

yet there was no transactions after

48:39

September 2nd when he was

48:41

depositing money. So no proof

48:43

that he had established any

48:46

type of residency apartment or anything to make sure

48:48

he had a roof over his head. But

48:50

there is no proof that he, you

48:52

know, was staying there after he

48:54

was let go. No, because he's

48:56

the timing of everything is when

48:58

he basically vanished after. And we

49:01

did ask the lady who is right

49:03

by the storage unit. She owns

49:06

the noble travel. And

49:08

so we asked her when was the

49:10

last time she had seen him and she

49:12

hadn't seen him. There was nothing

49:15

she could give us for information as when

49:17

he was there. There was no

49:19

search done by the police of

49:21

the storage unit or the Jeep. Karen

49:24

doesn't have access to Kevin's phone records but

49:26

she does have access to her parents records.

49:28

And since they talked to Kevin so frequently,

49:30

she went to those records to see what

49:32

she could find. As far

49:35

as when we knew there was

49:37

a problem, the last contact my

49:39

mom had was on September 2

49:41

that evening. So based on

49:44

Maui time versus here on the mainland,

49:46

the last she spoke to him was

49:49

briefly and she told him plug your phone in

49:51

because he said he was having problems with his

49:53

phone was about seven something

49:55

on at night on

49:57

September 2. I

50:00

pulled my mom's phone records and

50:03

he did try calling that

50:05

evening which there was no

50:07

voicemail. One thing

50:09

we wondered about was if Kevin had been in

50:11

a relationship with anyone around the time he disappeared.

50:14

That could potentially explain where he may have stayed

50:16

the night in between the two ATM sightings

50:19

or where he may have headed after that. But

50:21

Karen says that she's looked into that and keeps

50:23

coming up empty. If

50:26

Kevin had any relationships while he was in

50:28

Hawaii, I know there was a gal named

50:30

Shar that he had a

50:32

relationship with. I have been in

50:34

contact with her son and her. I

50:36

think that was prior years. My

50:38

guess was I think at least

50:41

three, four years prior to his

50:43

disappearance. He also had a relationship

50:45

with a gal, Mary Lou, and I

50:48

don't think that was recent

50:50

prior to his disappearance. That

50:53

was again years back. I did

50:55

speak with her and she'd let me know

50:57

if she had heard anything. But

50:59

yeah, nothing. I've

51:02

heard of different people that he

51:04

had relationships with, but I don't know.

51:06

I've not spoke with them and I

51:08

don't know the extent of it. But

51:10

no, nothing because that was my first question.

51:14

Was he in a relationship with anyone? No,

51:17

the same thing I heard over

51:19

and over from everyone is basically

51:21

he kept to himself and just

51:23

happy-go-lucky. And the creature of

51:26

habit basically did spend a lot

51:28

of time obviously at the hostel, but then

51:30

two days a week he'd kind of do his own

51:32

thing. And I think he

51:34

liked the downtown vibes. I did find out

51:36

that there was, it's hard to follow the

51:39

detective when what he was saying, but there

51:41

was some lady that there

51:43

was texting going back and forth

51:46

the month before he disappeared. And

51:48

I don't know, it didn't seem like there was any

51:51

follow-up with that. I was told

51:53

that he would text, apparently at

51:55

the Y bar, which is in Wailuku, you

51:58

would text in your request. he

52:00

wanted a song played and I

52:02

was told that that was who that person was

52:04

I guess. Since Karen

52:06

hasn't been able to access Kevin's phone

52:08

records, she hasn't had the opportunity to

52:11

pour over his call and text logs herself.

52:13

She only knows the tidbits of information that

52:16

the investigator passed along to her. It doesn't

52:18

sound like there was any one person that

52:20

Kevin was in frequent contact with on the

52:22

island though the investigator did

52:24

mention someone. Kevin

52:26

wasn't one to talk on the phone. He

52:29

was kind of like, that's everything,

52:31

my type of thing. My mom

52:33

on the other hand, like

52:35

I said, their connection and their

52:37

relationship was one where every day

52:40

and he knows she's you

52:42

know their health. My parents are, my dad's

52:44

80, what is it

52:46

83 now? She's 78. I mean

52:48

they're getting up in age. This has been

52:50

a living nightmare for them and

52:52

so he would never not call

52:54

her. Like he knew I have to talk to every

52:57

day but as far as the last time I spoke

52:59

with him, my dad had

53:01

had a heart attack. The summer

53:03

he disappeared so he disappeared in

53:05

September. My dad had

53:07

a heart attack in June I believe, yeah

53:09

it was Father's Day and so I

53:12

had talked when I said you you know Kev

53:14

you need to come back because he had never

53:16

been back. I mean honestly airfare and we had

53:18

offered to fly him back but he loved

53:20

it there. We laughed when he left because

53:22

we're like yeah okay you're gonna move to

53:24

Hawaii and you're gonna afford that. We'll see

53:26

in a month. The only thing

53:28

that I picked up on that I

53:31

never got an answer other than a vague

53:35

was there was apparently the detective told me

53:37

there was about 20 calls

53:40

in between Kevin and another

53:42

contractor at the hostel and so

53:45

I called that guy. I said

53:47

were you and Kevin like friends and

53:50

you know because I was trying to get at

53:52

the information I knew was that he had many

53:54

messages back and forth and texts

53:57

with Kevin or maybe there were phone

53:59

calls again. And I don't, because the

54:02

detective has that information, the phone

54:04

records, but what was that about? And

54:06

the detective said, because they weren't friends,

54:08

they didn't hang outside of the hostel ever.

54:11

And he said, well, he'd go to

54:13

Kevin. And if he needed

54:15

something, because Kevin had worked there for 14

54:18

years, he knew where everything was. So

54:20

that was one thing I wanted to follow up on. I'm like,

54:22

and he said, they weren't friends. They didn't hang

54:25

outside of work. So why did you

54:27

have that much contact? You know, with my brother,

54:29

I took it so far as to ask them

54:31

flat out. What would you say?

54:33

Like if you called or texted him, he's like,

54:36

maybe a handful of times he says. And

54:38

that's what he told me. Contrary to what

54:40

the detective told me, because the detective's saying

54:42

that the phone records indicated otherwise, but he

54:45

was an alarmed by that. That's

54:47

what I was trying to ask the detective. Like,

54:49

what, is there any indicators that there was somebody

54:51

new that had contacted him?

54:53

Any other numbers? Kurt

54:55

was frustrated by what law enforcement was

54:58

saying about Kevin's disappearance. It

55:00

was understandable that many people who have

55:02

disappeared in Hawaii may have run into

55:04

a bad situation while exploring the wilderness.

55:07

And this is what they said about Kevin. But

55:09

Kevin's family is adamant about the fact that

55:11

Kevin wasn't a hiker. We

55:14

have this experience where our

55:16

loved one moves there, lives

55:18

there, earns a living for 15 years. Not

55:22

rich and famous by any means. No. And

55:25

he's established many, many contacts,

55:27

many, many friends, many,

55:29

many people know him. And then all of a

55:31

sudden he vanishes and he asks the authorities, oh,

55:34

yeah, boy, you know, hmm.

55:37

Well, maybe he went hiking.

55:39

Like, no, Kevin wasn't a hiker. He

55:42

loved to be outdoors, but he wasn't

55:44

a swimmer so much he could swim, but

55:46

he wasn't a hiker. He

55:48

didn't do hiking, exploring. Kevin

55:51

liked to sit down at a restaurant

55:54

and he would order up a burger and

55:56

a beer. That's not hiking

55:59

in Kevin. was not a

56:01

outdoorsy person like love to make

56:04

a meal on a fire and live in a tent

56:06

and no. But

56:08

that's what the police had told us. He probably

56:10

went off hiking and he'll be gone and

56:13

then he'll come back wandering out of the woods.

56:15

Well, that never happened. To

56:17

add to Kurt's argument about this, Kevin had

56:19

sustained an injury in an accident years prior

56:22

that left one of his legs shorter than

56:24

the other. Kevin wore special shoes

56:26

with a lift on one side to compensate

56:28

for his injury. Because of

56:30

this, hiking wasn't necessarily an enjoyable

56:33

hobby for Kevin and would cause him

56:35

pain. The theory that Kevin was just

56:37

going to walk out of the mountains any

56:39

minute now seemed preposterous. There were things that

56:41

Kevin did like to do and there's proof

56:43

that he was doing those things in hours

56:45

before he vanished. He was having a delicious

56:48

meal and his vodka and cranberry. With

56:50

all of their frustrations mounting, Karen and her

56:52

husband made the trip to Hawaii in the

56:55

fall of 2021. It's so

56:57

difficult to attempt to run an investigation

56:59

from so far away. And

57:01

that's where we'll pick up Kevin's story next week.

57:04

Karen's trip to Hawaii didn't go the way she

57:06

had hoped or planned. But she has

57:08

since uncovered a trail of bizarre clues that served

57:10

only deep in the mystery about what happened to

57:12

Kevin. If you have any

57:14

information regarding the disappearance of Kevin Winters,

57:16

please call the Maui County Police Department

57:18

at 808-244-6400. What

57:24

I've heard from the only other

57:26

person at the detective interview that

57:28

died from hang loose, the

57:31

reason they didn't file a missing persons

57:33

report, I was told, is a bartender

57:35

or bartenders at hang loose

57:38

said they saw Kevin in

57:40

there and the timeline of that

57:42

would have been on September 6 or

57:45

7. So then who are these

57:47

bartenders that said they, that was the question

57:49

I had back then, wouldn't

57:51

we want to question them and say,

57:53

like, was he with anyone? And so

57:56

that's when I questioned the owner of hang

57:58

loose. He's a co-owner. And I talked

58:01

to him and he said Kevin was a good friend of

58:03

his and then his wife

58:05

had posted on Facebook that Kevin

58:08

was seen by Joe the date

58:10

of the timeline of when he would

58:12

have seen him based on this conversation Was

58:15

on September 14 which

58:18

here again? Who

58:20

would be with where would he

58:22

been eating and sleeping and drinking without a

58:24

debit card without a phone? So September

58:27

3 like that doesn't make any

58:29

sense That

58:59

brings us to the end of episode 428. I'd like

59:01

to thank everyone who spoke with us for this

59:03

story. If you have a missing letter, if you

59:05

have any information, please leave your email

59:07

to the public. If

59:11

you'd like to join in on this discussion

59:14

or to speak, please leave your email to

59:16

the public. If you like

59:18

our news, please leave your email to the

59:20

public. You can also support the mobile

59:22

contributing of hatred. Leave me early and

59:24

have free access. Be

59:27

sure to tune in on September 14th. Thanks

59:56

for watching! Hey

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