On the evening of November 18, 1996, in Kaneohe, Hawaii, 29-year-old Rick Calhau, a male of Asian and Caucasian descent, informed his wife he was heading out to visit friends in Kalihi. He departed from their Mokulele Drive residence around 10:10 p.m., assuring her he would only be gone for about an hour. He was last seen wearing a black jacket with "Tyson-Holyfield" printed on it, blue denim shorts, and black Shawn Kemp basketball shoes.
This was the last time his wife, or anyone in his family, would hear from him. The following day, his 1992 brown Ford pickup truck was discovered abandoned in Aiea, parked at the intersection of Koauka Street and Moanalua Road, directly in front of Our Savior Lutheran Church. The vehicle was processed for any potential evidence by the Honolulu Police Department and subsequently returned to his family, but it offered no immediate answers as to his whereabouts.
In the years leading up to his disappearance, Calhau had a documented association with Michael John Miske Jr. This connection involved a series of legal issues. In May of 1995, Miske was apprehended while driving Calhau's car after he assaulted and attempted to abduct a police officer during a traffic stop for speeding. Calhau later reported the vehicle as stolen, stating that while Miske was a good friend who had borrowed the car previously, he did not have permission on that particular night. When pressed for more information by law enforcement, Calhau sought legal counsel and ceased further cooperation on the matter. In a separate incident in August 1995, both Calhau and Miske were arrested and faced charges of second-degree terroristic threatening, though these charges were eventually dropped when the witness failed to appear in court. Miske later entered into a plea agreement for the abduction case and received five years of probation in January 1996. Just six months after Miske amended his plea to no contest, Rick Calhau vanished without a trace.
The investigation into Rick Calhau's disappearance has remained open for decades, with authorities believing he vanished under suspicious circumstances. His family, in a desperate search for answers, circulated thousands of "missing person" flyers and offered a significant reward for any information that would lead to his safe return, but the reward was never claimed. In 2004, Rick Calhau was declared legally dead. A significant development in the broader context of the case occurred years later when Michael Miske Jr. was arrested and, in 2024, convicted on multiple charges, including murder in aid of racketeering and kidnapping resulting in death, in a separate case involving the 2016 disappearance of Jonathan Fraser. Although Miske has not been officially named a suspect in Calhau's disappearance, the timing of the events and their shared history have been noted by investigators. The case of Rick Calhau remains a painful unsolved mystery for his loved ones and the community, a story of a young man who left his home for a short visit and was never seen again, leaving behind only lingering questions and the shadow of a troubled friendship.Last Seen: Nov 18, 1996
