A 70-year-old Oahu man who vanished in the Volcano area for more than 24 hours was found suffering from dehydration and exposure on a remote trail inside Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park on Monday evening, located by a police tracking dog roughly two miles from where he had parked his rental car.
According to the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, Puna patrol officers received the missing-person report at 12:16 p.m. Monday after the man had not been seen for more than a day. He was last known to be in the Volcano area, and based on his age and information gathered during the investigation, police considered him endangered. Officers soon located his unoccupied rental vehicle inside the national park, a discovery that narrowed the search area and set off a race to find him before nightfall.
An Extensive Ground and Air Search
Police and national park personnel launched an extensive search effort, with a Hawai‘i Fire Department helicopter providing aerial support, per the same report from the Tribune-Herald. As the hours wore on, K9 Trina and her handler, Officer Christopher Ross, responded to the area and joined the ground search for the missing man.
Trina picked up the trail and, at 7:30 p.m., found the man on a path about two miles from his parked rental car, the outlet reported. First responders carried him safely back to the trailhead before he was taken to Hilo Benioff Medical Center for treatment of dehydration and exposure. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that the man had apparently become lost and was unable to find his way back on his own, though no further details about his condition were released.
A Swedish Labrador With a Growing Track Record
Trina is a three-year-old Labrador Retriever born in Sweden and trained as a live-find human tracking canine, tasked with assisting in searches for missing children and endangered adults across Hawai‘i Island, the Tribune-Herald's report notes. Monday's rescue marked the second time in two months that she has located a missing person, after she found an endangered teenager in a brush-covered area of Waikoloa the previous month, the outlet reported.
Trina's addition to the Hawaii Police Department earlier this year filled a gap left when K9 Argo retired in 2023 after five years of service, according to the same account. Her arrival restored West Hawai‘i's access to a scent-detection dog without having to wait on East Hawai‘i's team, a wait that Big Island Now reported could stretch up to 90 minutes. The outlet also detailed that the $25,000 cost of acquiring Trina, flying her from Sweden and training both the dog and her handler was covered entirely through community donations to the Hawai‘i Island K9 Association.
Another Island Search, A Different Outcome
The rescue at Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park came just as another missing-person case was unfolding elsewhere on the island. Big Island Now reported that 85-year-old Merle Quentin Roberts was reported missing Sunday evening after last being seen in Captain Cook at 11 a.m. that day, and police later said he had been located in good health.
