Erik Whaley was 42 years old when he was last seen in Honolulu, Hawaii, on March 28, 2009. According to missing-person reporting, he was last known to be in the Keehi Lagoon area at about 1:00 p.m. that day, a place tied closely to the water and offshore activity. Erik, who was also known by the nickname “Edrish,” was described as a Caucasian man, 6 feet tall and about 180 pounds, with brown wavy hair and hazel eyes. After that afternoon, he was never heard from again.
Two days later, on March 30, 2009, the case took a deeply troubling turn when the Coast Guard found Erik’s rowboat floating about nine miles offshore from Keehi Lagoon. His personal belongings were still inside the boat, but Erik was not there. The discovery left investigators and those who cared about him with a painful absence: the vessel had been found, traces of his life were still aboard, but there was no sign of the man himself. Public reports did not describe a confirmed recovery, a confirmed explanation, or a detailed account of what happened between the time he was last seen and the moment the boat was located offshore.
Authorities asked for the public’s help after Erik disappeared. Honolulu police and CrimeStoppers circulated information about him, including his physical description, his nickname, the location where he was last seen, and the fact that his belongings had been discovered in the rowboat offshore. The available reporting reflects a case shaped by uncertainty and the ocean: Erik was last seen near Keehi Lagoon, his boat was later found at sea, and he himself remained missing. The Charley Project states that he is presumed to be lost at sea, but the public details available do not provide a fuller account of how that conclusion was reached beyond the discovery of the unattended rowboat with his belongings inside.
The case of Erik Whaley is the story of a man who vanished from the Honolulu waterfront on a Saturday afternoon and whose absence was marked only by a rowboat found miles from shore. He was known as Erik, also as Edrish, and he was remembered in public notices not as a statistic, but through the details that might help someone recognize him: his height, build, hair, eyes, and last known location. In overview, Erik Whaley, 42, was last seen at 1:00 p.m. on March 28, 2009, in the Keehi Lagoon area of Honolulu; on March 30, the Coast Guard found his rowboat with his personal belongings inside about nine miles offshore, but Erik was not found, and available sources indicate he has never been heard from again and is presumed lost at sea.Last Seen: Mar 28, 2009
