William Scott Stanga, a 52-year-old male from Hāna, Maui, was last seen on July 31, 2020, in the ocean off Pāʻia, Hawaii, near Kūʻau Bay Beach below Mama’s Fish House. He was known to many as “Scott,” and online missing-person listings describe him as a White/Caucasian man, about 6 feet tall, with hazel eyes, with weight listed around 175 to 185 pounds depending on the source. On that Friday afternoon, what appears to have begun as a familiar ocean outing became a devastating disappearance. Stanga had gone snorkeling and spearfishing in the waters off Pāʻia with companions, in an area known for its shoreline, reef, and ocean activity. At some point, his companions returned toward shore and realized they had lost sight of him. He did not come back from the water, and the concern quickly turned into an emergency.
Reports from the time say Stanga was last seen by friends snorkeling near Kūʻau Bay Beach, below Mama’s Fish House, sometime around 3 p.m. on July 31, 2020. When he failed to return from spearfishing off Pāʻia, friends called 911 to report him overdue. The setting made the search especially urgent and difficult: the ocean off Maui can change quickly, and a missing swimmer, snorkeler, or spearfisher can be carried beyond the area where they were last seen. Authorities treated the report as a serious missing-person and overdue-waterman case, with the Maui Police Department seeking public help and asking anyone with information to contact police.
A large search followed. The U.S. Coast Guard worked with the Maui Fire Department, carrying out 35 searches across 621 square nautical miles. Despite the scale of those efforts, crews found no sign of Stanga. The Coast Guard suspended the active search after sunset on Monday, pending new information. A Coast Guard watchstander expressed condolences to Stanga’s family and acknowledged the heartbreak of such cases, noting that crews wished the outcome had been different. The suspension of an active search did not erase the loss felt by those who loved him; it marked the painful point at which responders had exhausted the active search area without finding answers.
Beyond the official missing-person details, memorial and obituary sources portray Scott Stanga as a person deeply loved by his family. He was born on September 28, 1967, in Opelika, Alabama, and grew up in several places as the son of a Naval officer, including Rota, Spain, and communities in California. He later graduated from Ponchatoula High School in Louisiana and from Life Chiropractic in Atlanta. His obituary says he was especially proud of his son, Chase, and remembers him as someone known for his love of animals, the earth, and an “electric smile.” Those personal details do not solve the mystery of what happened off Pāʻia, but they help restore the human center of the case: Scott was not only a missing person record or a search statistic, but a son, father, brother, friend, and family member whose absence left lasting grief.
In the years since July 31, 2020, public missing-person pages have continued to list William Scott Stanga’s case with the essential facts: he was 52 when he disappeared, he was last known to be in the Pāʻia/Kūʻau Bay Beach area of Maui, and the circumstances involved snorkeling and spearfishing with others before he vanished from sight. The case remains defined by a narrow and tragic sequence of events: a day in the water with companions, a separation near shore, a missing report after he did not return, an intensive multi-agency search over hundreds of square nautical miles, and no public report in the reviewed sources confirming that he was found. In overview, William “Scott” Stanga’s disappearance is the story of a man last seen alive in the waters off Paia, Hawaii, on July 31, 2020, a 52-year-old spearfisher whose sudden absence prompted an extensive search and left his loved ones with grief, unanswered questions, and the enduring hope that any new information might bring clarity.
Last Seen: Jul 31, 2020
