David Loasby, a 62-year-old male, was last seen on December 14, 2021, in Makena on the island of Maui, Hawaii, during what began as a snorkeling outing near the south end of Chang’s Beach, close to the Makena Surf Resort. Public missing-person records describe him as a White/Caucasian man with gray hair and blue eyes, approximately 6 feet 2 inches tall and about 195 pounds, and the Maui County listing continues to include him among missing people reported from the county.
He was last known to be in the water at about 12:30 p.m., swimming south and rounding a rocky point along the shoreline, a detail repeated in public case summaries and local reporting.
When David did not return, concern quickly turned into an emergency response. The Coast Guard reported that Sector Honolulu watchstanders received word at 3:34 p.m. after Coast Guard Station Maui had been contacted by David’s family, who said he was overdue. In response, officials issued an urgent marine information broadcast to alert mariners, and Coast Guard assets were launched while Maui County first responders also joined the effort. Local coverage reported that Maui County fire crews were notified later that afternoon and searched by land, sea, and air until darkness, with ground searches continuing through the night.
The search for David stretched across multiple days and involved a wide range of resources. Maui Now reported that fire, ocean safety, and Coast Guard personnel continued searching the waters off Mākena, while the Coast Guard also brought in a ship from Oʻahu to assist near Chang’s Beach. After three full days, the Maui Fire Department suspended its search, and the Coast Guard later announced that it had suspended its active search as well. According to the Coast Guard, the multi-agency effort covered 537 square miles over approximately 75 hours and included 29 total searches, a measure of how intensely responders tried to find him in the ocean and shoreline area where he had last been seen.
The public details of David’s disappearance remain limited, but the known facts point to a sudden and devastating loss of contact during a recreational activity in an area where ocean conditions, shoreline contours, and visibility can change the course of a search within minutes. The Charley Project states that he has never been heard from again and notes that he is presumed drowned, though his remains have not been found. NamUs continues to list the case as a missing person case, and the attached case data does not indicate a resolution status of Alive or Deceased, so the public record does not show a confirmed recovery or formal resolution.
David Loasby’s case is the story of a 62-year-old man who entered the water at Chang’s Beach in Makena on December 14, 2021, was last seen swimming south around a rocky point, and then disappeared despite a large emergency response from local and federal agencies. His family reported him overdue, responders searched across ocean and shoreline for days, and public missing-person records have continued to preserve his name, description, and last known circumstances. The case remains marked by the painful absence of clear answers: a man last seen snorkeling off South Maui, an urgent search that covered hundreds of square miles, and a family left with uncertainty after David vanished from the waters near Makena.Last Seen: Dec 14, 2021
