Man went searching for sea snails and never returned, Hawaii cops say. Body identified
A man went searching for sea snails along a Hawaii coastline and never returned, police said.
His body has just been identified, the Hawaii Police Department said in an Aug. 3 news release.
Seth Kapiliokalani Waltjen, 39, told friends he was going to dive and pick opihi at about 4:30 p.m. on July 29. He said he would return in 30 minutes to an hour, but he never did, police said.
His friends reported him missing the following morning, police said.
A body was found later that day in the same area, and an autopsy confirmed it belonged to Kapiliokalani Waltjen, police said.
His cause of death was “consistent with drowning,” police said.
The medical examiner ruled out foul play as a factor. A toxicology report is still pending, police said.
Opihi is the Hawaiian word for limpet, which is a snail that has a cone-shaped shell. It’s a delicacy in Hawaii.
But the sea creatures are dangerous to harvest because they are found on rocky coastlines.
A 29-year-old woman also disappeared while opihi picking on July 9, police said. Shanice Ogata-Staudinger was picking the sea snails with a relative in Pahoa.
But she never returned to their meeting point after the two separated. Her body has not been found, according to police.
This story was originally published August 4, 2023 at 4:27 PM with the headline "Man went searching for sea snails and never returned, Hawaii cops say. Body identified."
