Missing Person Photos

A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe. By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends. A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.



Missing Person Photos

Resources for Missing Persons

According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day. Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends. Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.

Missing Person Case Updates with Photos

Sequoya R. Vargas
missing 2023 updates
missing 2023 updates
missing 2023 updates
Sequoya, date, approximate 1993; Matthew Gibbs; Richard Damian Serrano
Date Missing 08/22/1993
Missing From
Hilo, Hawaii
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
Native American
Date of Birth 10/29/1976 (45)
Age 16 years old
Height and Weight Unknown
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Native American female. Black hair, brown eyes. Sequoya is of Tarahumara Indian descent. She understands Spanish. She is a vegetarian.
Details of Disappearance Sequoya was last seen in Hilo, Hawaii on August 22, 1993. She told her mother she was spending the night with a female friend. She and her friend were picked up by Richard Damian Serrano while hitchhiking.
Serrano took Sequoya's friend home, then Sequoya went to a house in Nanawale Estates to watch television with him, Matthew Gibbs and Jason McCubbins. Sequoya knew Gibbs, but had never met the other two men before.
She never returned home. Police initially classified her as a runaway, but a month later her was reclassified as a homicide. Gibbs eventually confessed that he, McCubbins and Serrano had raped Sequoya, beaten her and tossed her over a sea cliff.
Gibbs stated Sequoya drank alcohol mixed with prescription cough medicine and passed out. The three men raped her while she was unconscious, then she woke up and started screaming.
McCubbins punched her to try to make her be quiet, then put her in the trunk of his car; Serrano and Gibbs drove separately in a van. They drove to McKenzie Park and tossed her off a 20-foot cliff. A few minutes later they could hear Sequoya moaning, so Serrano went down the cliff, swam her out to sea and returned without her.
McCubbins pleaded no contest to kidnapping and manslaughter, and Gibbs to sexual assault. McCubbins was sentenced to twenty years in prison. Gibbs was put on probation for five years, but he was later sent to prison after being convicted of felony drug charges.
Serrano left Hawaii two days after Sequoya disappeared. He was indicted for kidnapping, second-degree murder and sexual assault in 1995, but he remained a fugitive until 1999, when he was arrested in Mexico. Gibbs and McCubbins testified against him at his trial.
Serrano maintained his innocence. He admitted he met Sequoya on the night of her disappearance and drove her to McCubbins's house, but he denied being present when she was raped and said he never harmed her and wasn't there when she was thrown off the cliff.
Serrano was convicted of all charges in May 2000. He must serve a minimum of fifty years in prison for become eligible for parole. Photos of him and McCubbins are posted with this summary.
Sequoya's ex-boyfriend, Joshua Curry, was scheduled to testify at the trial, but he disappeared in November 1994 before the trial, and was never found. It's unclear whether his disappearance was related to his scheduled testimony, but foul play is suspected in his .
Sequoya was born in Fallbrook, California. She was a sophomore at Pahoa High School in 1993. She was applying to an art college and is described as creative, gifted and a skilled chess player. Her body has never been found, but foul play is suspected in her disappearance due to the circumstances involved.
Investigating Agency
Hawaii County Police Department
Other
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin
The Honolulu Advertiser
Hawaii VINELink

Missing Person Photos

A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe. By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends. A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.



Missing Person Photos

Resources for Missing Persons

According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day. Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends. Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.

Missing Person Case Updates with Photos