WAILUA — Rescue workers switched to “passive mode” Sunday evening after an intensive four-day search for a visitor who went missing in Wailua Valley. “If any new information is received regarding the missing man that warrants an active search, we
WAILUA — Rescue workers switched to “passive mode” Sunday evening after an intensive four-day search for a visitor who went missing in Wailua Valley.
“If any new information is received regarding the missing man that warrants an active search, we will certainly assist DLNR once again,” Kaua‘i Fire Chief Robert Westerman said in a county news release.
Ryan Soper, 26, of Orem, Utah, went on a kayak tour up Wailua River on Thursday, county officials said. On the way back from Secret Falls, a roughly 1.5-mile hike from a docking point at Smith Island, he became separated from the group and ran into the valley. An earlier county news release said he was behaving erratically during the tour.
Specialists from the Lihu‘e fire station, firefighters from the Koloa and Waimea stations, state Department of Land and Natural Resources personnel, and a canine search team split into two groups after developing their strategy at the incident’s command post near the Wailua River boat ramp where they met at 8 a.m., a county news release states.
Soper is 5-feet 10-inches tall and weighs about 240 pounds. He has short blond hair, blue eyes, a fair complexion, a large build and is of Caucasian ancestry, the release states.
He was wearing a black Under Armor shirt with long sleeves and a pair of black and white board shorts, officials said.
Anyone with information about Soper is asked to called Police Dispatch at 241-1711 or Crime Stoppers, 241-1887.
