Richard Kalani Vierra -- Missing in Hawaii Since 2014

Paraphrased details from government source**: 

Richard went hiking alone on Saturday, July 5th, 2014 at approximately 6:30am at the Kamaileuna Ridge Trail near his home. He called his mother at 11:30 am to say he was coming down. He has not been seen or heard from since.

From his Facebook profile.

Missing Person: Richard Kalani Vierra
Last-contact date: July 5th, 2014 at about 11:28am
The area where the MP was last seen: Waianae, Hawaii at Kaimaile Mountain trail near Maiu'u Entrance
Link to government source: NamUs MP 

VITAL DETAILS

Ethnicity: White or Caucasian
Sex: Male
Age at time of disappearance: 15 years old
Birthdate: Richard Kalani Vierra was born between July 6th, 1998, and July 5th, 1999 based on his reported age at the last date of reported contact.
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Scar: None known
Height/weight: 5'5" and 120 pounds
BMI*: Richard Kalani Vierra was in the normal range for BMI.
Tattoos: Richard Kalani Vierra did not have any tattoos associated with his profiles.

Richard Kalani Vierra was last heard from on July 5th, 2014 when he was 15 years of age. I am sure I found his inactive Facebook account where there are a lot of pictures of him. In my opinion, the NamUs photo isn't a good one. He looked like a very athletic teenager that was successful for his age group in martial arts. This individual has now been missing for about 7 years as of the original publication date of this blog post.

What stands out with this case is the phone call that the mother made to her son. He apparently hiked to a mountain summit and phoned to say he was on his way back home. This was the last contact from the missing minor. When she called him again at 12:15pm then the call went to voicemail.

It's possible, even probable, that he suffered a hiking accident in the 47 minutes between the two calls. If he did, then his location at the time of the first phone call and his hiking speed create the search area. This was not an easy or safe hike according to my research.

I saw a video that filmed a missing person poster of him. It said he was hiking the Kaimaile Mountain trail and may have used Maiu'u Road Entrance. I think this would be referring to the Kamaileunu Ridge Hike and that his entry point to the trail would have been at the following Google Map coordinates: 21.46178191468302, -158.1992668024058.

The trail is rated as difficult at AllTrails.com. One reviewer at the site had this to say:

We found that it went way off to the left, but got very dangerous being over the edge of a cliff without places to hold on. We decided it wasn't worth it and turned back. The way back was difficult finding proper foot placement and not slipping on the steep, sandy sections. It took us about 3 hours and 15 minutes to get up to 1000 feet and back. Definitely a fun challenge, not sure if we'd do it again. -- Taylor Key, writing in September 2020

Furthermore, this trail has made the news before because of hikers falling. The following newspaper article references the trail, a near-fatal accident that occurred on it in 2003, and crumbling rock as a hazard.

The man that fell had his fall broken by trees and so he was able to guide search-and-rescue to his whereabouts with his cellular phone. The impression I got in reading the article below is that the man might have been difficult to find without him being able to provide verbal guidance by cellular. It would be interesting if this dangerous area was the same area that Richard was in when he went missing. 

Minimally, I think the case in the article below should be a case study for trying to find Richard as it may highlight a particularly dangerous spot where someone who falls may end up concealed. This case may call for a double skill-set of an expert hiker that's familiar with the trail who also is skilled at operating drones with cameras.

07 Jan 2003, Tue The Honolulu Advertiser (Honolulu, Hawaii) Newspapers.com

Richard Kalani Vierra may have had the following articles when he disappeared: blue backpack, blue shirt, shorts, and shoes. These items can be used to try and match a missing person to a John Doe. You can follow the tweets from the author of this blog. Follow Shane Lambert at Twitter. 

Author: Shane Lambert, (Freelance Writer)

All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

Shane Lambert, (Freelance Writer) is not a Private Investigator, however, he is currently studying to be one as of April 2021.

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Website hashtag: #MPCSL

*For BMI values, I use the UPPER or HIGHER ranges that are given for height and weight.
**Might not be the exact meaning that NamUs or Canada's Missing conveys. I improve upon their descriptions with my research.
Disclaimer: Whenever possible, government sources are preferred for getting the details of a missing persons case. However, any source that the article writer deems reputable may be used.

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