Roseline Ak Pawai was 40 years old when she disappeared from Hilo, on the island of Hawaiʻi, after last being seen during the evening hours of March 4, 1999. Public missing-person records identify her as a Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander woman with black or dark hair and brown eyes, about 5 feet tall and approximately 183 pounds. NamUs lists her case as Missing Person MP51290 and records her last known location as Hilo, Hawaiʻi, with the Hawaiʻi Police Department as the investigating
agency.
That evening, Roseline was reportedly last seen at her home on Wainaku Street in Hilo. When she could not be located, the early public appeal from Hawaiʻi County police described her as missing from her Wainaku home since Thursday evening, March 4, 1999. In the days that followed, a painful and troubling detail emerged: Roseline’s wallet and pager were found on the Wainaku Bridge. Those belongings became a central part of the investigation, but they did not answer the question of where Roseline had gone or what had happened to her after she was last seen.
Authorities searched the area near the Wainaku Street bridge for three days, but no trace of Roseline was found. The absence of any physical sign of her left investigators and loved ones with few clear answers. The Charley Project reports that her disappearance was investigated as a probable suicide, but the available public information does not state that this was ever confirmed. Publicly available summaries also note that there were reported sightings of Roseline in Hilo during the week after she disappeared, but Hawaiʻi police said those reports remained unconfirmed.
As the days turned into weeks, police renewed their request for help from the public. A May 1999 update from Hawaiʻi police again identified Roseline as a 40-year-old Hilo woman missing from her Wainaku home since March 4 and noted that the earlier search near the Wainaku Street bridge had failed to locate any sign of her. At that time, police described her as Hawaiian, about 5 feet tall, 183 pounds, with short dark hair, and asked anyone with information about her whereabouts to contact Detective Randal Ishii.
Roseline’s case is marked by the quiet heartbreak of very few known facts: a woman last seen at home in the evening, personal belongings later found on a bridge, unconfirmed sightings, a multi-day search that found nothing, and a family and community left without certainty. Public databases continue to preserve her name and details so that anyone who may remember something from Hilo in March 1999, or who may have information that was never reported, can still recognize the importance of coming forward. In overview, Roseline Pawai was a 40-year-old Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander woman last seen on March 4, 1999, at her Wainaku Street home in Hilo; her wallet and pager were later found on the Wainaku Bridge, an extensive search did not locate her, reported sightings remained unconfirmed, and the case remains defined in public records by unanswered questions and the enduring need for information.Last Seen: Mar 4, 1999
