Carl Sawyer was 16 and a junior at Waipahu High School when he was shot and killed after the Jack Rabbit Carnival on the evening of February 20, 1976. Police were dispatched to the area behind 94-896 Moloalo Street and found him unresponsive with multiple gunshot wounds; a later retelling places the discovery at about 11 p.m., and two other youths reportedly came upon his body roughly a block from the school.

Friends and classmates remembered Sawyer as well-liked and popular, and investigators were not able to establish a motive. No suspect, arrest, charge, trial, or conviction is identified in the case information, and the death remains listed among Honolulu’s unresolved homicides. The Honolulu Police Department included this killing in a broader cold-case review launched in 2018 and continues to ask for tips.

If anyone remembers anything from that night — an argument, a vehicle, or a face seen near Waipahu High School — please contact investigators with information.