On February 11, 1988, twelve-year-old Jie Zhao Li left her family’s apartment on Nuuanu Avenue with a stack of Zippy’s chili tickets and a simple wristwatch her mother had just fastened onto her wrist. She promised to be home by six. At around 4:30–4:45 p.m., witnesses saw her outside the 7-Eleven at Nuuanu and Kuakini—polite, soft-spoken, doing something every Hawaii kid did in the 1980s. Minutes later, she was gone.

What followed became one of the largest missing-child searches in Hawaii’s history: more than 39,000 man-hours; helicopters; canine units; grids covering streets, ravines, and Nuuanu Stream. No watch. No fundraiser tickets. No clothing. No confirmed vehicle. No suspect. No trace.

This episode retraces Jie's last known steps, explores her family’s journey from China to Honolulu, examines every major lead—including the 1950s-era Chevy, the deeply unsettling person of interest, and the dead-end sightings—and follows the decades of silence that have left her still missing, still loved, and still waiting for answers. Someone in Hawaii knows something. After 35 years, even the smallest memory could matter.

Sources:

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

The Charley Project

Hawaii News Now reporting by Lynn Kawano

The Doe Network

Archival community reports and long-term case documentation

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