Missing woman’s family ends search, goes home

HA’ENA — Family members from Japan and New York have given up hope of finding

Kumiko Kurimoto, 50, of New York, who has been missing since March 14.

The

Kauai police theorize she drowned after she waded in the water off a beach in

front of the Hanalei Colony Resort, slipped, fell and was taken out to sea by

rip currents.

Her personal belongings were on the beach when she was

reported missing by Lawa’i resident, Dave Ruskjer, a friend of the missing

woman.

Kurimoto’s husband, Robert Berkley, has returned to New York, and

the woman’s sister, Mariko Kurimoto, 52, from Yokohama, Japan, plans to leave

in a week, Ruskjer said.

“They are resolved to whatever fate that has

befallen her,” Ruskjer said.

The woman’s husband and sister had arrived on

Kaua’i to lend their assistance in trying to locate Kurimoto.

The woman

had a tendency to fall into trances, according to the husband, fueling

speculation by psychics that she had lost consciousness and fallen under brush

and vegetation and was lost from sight.

Psychics said she would be found

either Tuesday or Wednesday, but she still has not come forth. At this point,

the woman’s disappearance has been classified as a missing person, and a search

won’t be resumed unless new evidence surfaces to show she is alive, Kaua’i have

said.

In a three-day search that ended last Friday, county firefighters,

police officers and lifeguards conducted unsuccessful ground and offshore

searches off Ha’ena and the Na Pali Coast.

An Air-1 Interisland

Helicopter aircraft also conducted unsuccessful aerial searches.

The

missing woman stands 5 feet, 4 inches tall, weighs 95 pounds, has brown eyes

and mid-length black hair, a tan complexion and a slim build.

Individuals

who provide information that is useful in locating the missing woman would be

eligible for a crash reward under the program, which is administered by the

Kaua’i Police Department and is sponsored by the Kaua’i Chamber of

Commerce.