A 16-year-old girl last seen on Haiku Road has not been found more than a week after she went missing, and the Maui Police Department is again asking the public for help finding her. Destiny H. Gill was last seen on October 8 in Haiku, and police describe her as Hawaiian/Caucasian, 5 feet 4 inches tall, and weighing 100 pounds, with red hair, brown eyes, ear and nose piercings, and several tattoos, including a red “bad girl” tattoo on the back of her upper thigh and the word “f***” tattooed on one knuckle.
The disappearance was announced in a post from the Maui Police Department on Facebook, which said she was wearing a red top and white shorts when she was last seen and asked anyone with information about her whereabouts to call the department's non-emergency line at 808-244-6400. This is not the first time Gill has gone missing this year. She was previously reported as a runaway by Maui police in January, when she disappeared from Wailuku alongside another teenager, according to an Instagram post from the Maui Police Department
; she was confirmed found safe the following month.
This time, the stakes appear higher. The Missing Child Center-Hawaii, which operates under the state Department of the Attorney General, has designated Gill's October 8 disappearance from Haiku as an “Endangered” missing child case, per an Instagram post from Stolen Stuff Hawaii
. That same post notes additional identifying details circulated in the state alert, including short dyed red hair with bangs and a freckle on her left cheek, and warns that Gill may frequent Wailuku, Kahului, Makawao, Pukalani, Kula, or Haiku, and might attempt to leave Maui entirely.
How the State's Missing Child System Works
The Missing Child Center-Hawaii was established under Hawaii Revised Statutes § 28-121 within the Department of the Attorney General, serving as the state's official clearinghouse for coordinating search efforts between county police, state agencies, and federal authorities, according to the Hawaii Department of the Attorney General. Gill's case is designated as an “Endangered” missing child case.
The Maui Police Department is seeking information about Gill's whereabouts. Federal guidelines under the National Child Search Assistance Act bar law enforcement agencies from imposing any waiting period before accepting a missing child report, and require immediate entry into the National Crime Information Center database, per the Honolulu Police Department.
Legal Protections for Runaways — and Risks for Adults Who Help Hide Them
Under Hawaii Revised Statutes § 571-2, juvenile runaways are legally classified as status offenders rather than criminal delinquents, meaning their recovery is handled through family court and social service channels rather than the criminal justice system, according to Justia Law. But the law draws a sharp line for adults: under Hawaii Revised Statutes § 709-904, anyone who knowingly harbors, conceals, or withholds information about a runaway minor can face criminal prosecution for second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor.
Multi-agency sweeps have periodically recovered missing teens across the islands. In late June, a joint state and federal law enforcement initiative called Operation Shine the Light VII recovered 14 endangered missing youth across Hawaii, many of whom had initially been reported as runaways, Maui Now reported, as relayed by Hoodline's earlier coverage of a separate missing-teen case in Waikoloa.
Gill's case has been designated as an endangered missing-child case. Anyone with information about Destiny Gill's current whereabouts is asked to contact the Maui Police Department.
