Update: Police ID body found on riverbed at bottom of 80-foot Nīnole waterfall

Update at 12:51 p.m. Sept. 26: Big Island police identified the body of a man recovered Sept. 22 from a riverbed at the bottom of an 80-foot waterfall in Nīnole as that of 35-year-old Andrew Jeffrey Salonia of Hilo.
 
An autopsy was performed Tuesday on Salonia’s body. A forensic pathologist determined his cause of death was drowning.

The investigation continues, pending the return of a toxicology report.

Salonia was last seen alive the afternoon of Sept. 21 while he was sitting on the edge of the waterfall, which is at a property where he was working.

He was reportedly intoxicated and ignored numerous warnings from his employer to get off the edge of the waterfall.

Original post at 11:19 a.m. Sept. 23: Hawai‘i Island police on Saturday afternoon recovered a body, presumed to be a missing person who was last seen sitting on the edge of an 80-foot waterfall in Nīnole.

At approximately 8:44 p.m. on Saturday, Hilo patrol officers initiated a missing persons investigation after a 44-year-old Hilo man reported that he hadn’t seen or heard from his employee since about 2:30 p.m.

The 35-year-old Hilo man was last seen sitting on the edge of a waterfall on a property in the 35-1000 block of Highway 19.

He was intoxicated and had ignored numerous warnings from his employer to get off the edge of the waterfall.

As the employer completed the yard maintenance, he conducted another check for the employee at the waterfall and other areas of the property; however, the employee couldn’t be located.

The employer then drove to Hilo and filed the missing person’s report.

North Hilo patrol officers responded to the scene and conducted checks for the missing person, but he could not be located. Hawaiʻi Fire Department rescue personnel were not deployed because of safety concerns behind doing a nighttime search.

The employer and detectives with the Hawaiʻi Police Department Area I Criminal Investigation Section at 10:40 a.m. Sunday located the body of a dead man about 6 feet underwater on the riverbed below the waterfall.

Hawaiʻi Fire Department rescue personnel extricated the body, which was turned over to police for continued investigation.

The victim was transported to Hilo Benioff Medical Center, where he was officially pronounced dead.

A coroner’s inquest investigation was initiated and an autopsy was ordered to determine the man’s exact cause of death.

Police will release the victim’s identity once identification is made and next of kin are notified.

Anyone who might have information about this incident is asked to call Detective Kimo Keli’ipa’akaua at 808-961-2375 or contact him via email at kimo.keliipaakaua@hawaiicounty.gov.