UPDATE: Judge maintains bail on Kansas man accused of stabbing Kona boat captain

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 5:28 p.m. on April 28, 2026.

A man from Overland Park, Kansas, accused of stabbing a boat captain while out on a private snorkel tour with his family off the Kona Coast, entered a not guilty plea Tuesday in Third Circuit Court.

Avery Nissen, 21, was indicted on April 21 on charges of second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault and second-degree assault after attacking and stabbing 62-year-old boat captain Stan Lurbiecki while aboard the Hawai‘i Nautical on April 16.

Nissen appeared before Circuit Court Judge Wendy DeWeese on Tuesday, who maintained bail at $1.57 million. A jury trial was scheduled for Aug. 25.

The most serious offense listed in the indictment, second-degree attempted murder, carries a penalty of life in prison with the possibility of parole. First-degree assault is a class B felony and carries a maximum penalty of a 10-year prison term. Second-degree assault in the second degree is a class C felony and carries a maximum penalty of a 5-year prison term.

 Lurbiecki spoke to Big Island Now after the incident, detailing how the events unfolded on the 55-foot catamaran.

The tour left from Honokōhau Harbor. Lurbiecki and one crew member were leading a private snorkel tour where Nissen was aboard with his mother and sibling.

Lurbiecki said he was driving the boat toward the harbor when Nissen reportedly snuck a 10-inch fillet knife from the boat’s galley and stabbed him in the back unprovoked.

Nissen’s mother tried to intervene, Lurbiecki said.

Nissen then leapt off the side of the boat. Lubriecki said he used a towel to hold pressure on his neck wound and then rescued Nissen.

The 21-year-old was able to climb back onto the boat and sat with his mother for the duration of the trip without incident.

Nissen’s sibling helped Lubriecki by putting pressure on his wounds, “stopping me from bleeding out on the way in.”

“I made it into the harbor and backed the boat up, and the paramedics met me there and further stopped the bleeding,” Lubriecki said. “I’d lost almost half my blood.”

The motive for the attack is unknown.

At Kona Community Hospital, Lubriecki said he was given several blood transfusions.