Jeffrey John Zoltowski, 23, was a Michigan student on a four-month hiking trip in Hawaii in early 1993. He spent 49 days on Oahu, then went to Molokai. On March 21, 1993, he spoke with his father and sounded upbeat; on March 31 he was hiking in the remote Wailua Valley and flagged down a Department of Land and Natural Resources helicopter seeking help. Crew members judged his condition not life-threatening and refused to fly him out, but took his heavy sixty-pound backpack to a DLNR service yard. The pack, containing his compass, maps, and first aid kit, remained unclaimed there for 41 days before a missing person report was filed.

Jeffrey phoned home frequently while in Hawaii, calling 31 times during the 49 days he was there; when those calls stopped his family became concerned and filed the report in May. His father flew to Molokai and searched for six weeks. Official searches using boats, helicopters and a team of U.S. Marines found no trace. Occasional leads have surfaced: one local man reported seeing someone matching Jeffrey’s description believed to have been fatally attacked by a shark, but searches at the alleged site produced nothing.

The disappearance remains unresolved and deeply painful for the family. If anyone knew Jeffrey, saw him in Molokai in March 1993, or has information about the man seen in Honolulu in 2001, please share what is known.