FBI Honolulu is again asking the public for help finding Abigail Bernstein and her two young sons, Koa Kai and Kush Kohole, who have been missing since they left Honolulu's Ala Wai Boat Harbor together in October 2022. The bureau says it is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the safe recovery of the mother and her boys, and this week it pushed the appeal back into public view with a fresh social media post and video.
A Family That Never Came Back From Its Voyage
According to Maui Now, the family was last seen at the harbor in October 2022, and the case has drawn renewed national attention after the FBI brought it back into the spotlight. Abigail Bernstein was 33 at the time of that report, with her sons Koa Kai and Kush Kohole listed as 11 and 8 years old. The outlet also reported that Bernstein is known by several other names, including Abi, Avi, Avigayil, Abigayil and Ovi.
The family had reportedly been scheduled to leave on a year-long voyage at sea with someone Bernstein had met online, according to Hawaii News Now. When they failed to return, the Coast Guard was notified, the station reported, setting off an investigation that has now stretched well past two years without a confirmed resolution.
Investigators Point to Ties Across the Islands
FBI Honolulu Special Agent in Charge Steven Merrill said interviews and intelligence indicated Bernstein was probably living off the grid somewhere in Hawaii, the station's report noted. Merrill said she had ties to the Big Island, Kauai and Maui, though the same report made clear that officials had no evidence of foul play but had not ruled it out either.
The same Maui Now report noted the Bernstein family has ties stretching far beyond the islands, including to Naples, Florida; Petoskey, Michigan; and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Those far-flung connections have complicated efforts to trace where the mother and her sons might have gone after leaving the harbor, and the dossier of public reporting does not establish what happened to them next or confirm the details of the planned voyage, its vessel, or the identity of the person Bernstein had reportedly met online.
Case Now Featured on Unsolved Mysteries
The search for the Bernstein family has also been featured as an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, titled “What Does the Captain Know? The Search for the Bernstein Family,” which directs viewers with information to call 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip at tips.fbi.gov. FBI Honolulu posted a video this week aimed at generating new leads and, as the bureau put it, helping bring the family home.
Anyone with information is urged to contact their local FBI office or the nearest American embassy or consulate, and tips can also be submitted anonymously online at tips.fbi.gov or by calling the toll-free tipline at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324). Four years after Abigail Bernstein and her sons Koa Kai and Kush Kohole disappeared from a Honolulu harbor, the FBI's renewed push shows the case remains very much open.
