HPD seeks answers about man last seen in 1985, found in Manoa

HONOLULU (KHON2) — Honolulu Police Department’s Crime Investigation Division held a press conference on Tuesday to speak on a 14-year-old Manoa cold case homicide.

The investigation was launched on Sept. 28, 2010 when a construction crew found unidentified human remains in the Manoa area.

HPD later determined the skull of the remains “sustained a gunshot wound and that the remains were placed there under suspicious circumstances.”

No additional leads were found at the time of the initial investigation.

The remains were later sent to the FBI Laboratory in Quantico for DNA testing. In 2023, FBI officials created a tentative identification based on the DNA profile.

The victim was confirmed to be William Hans Holling Jr., who was last seen by friends and family in January 1985.

KHON2 asked why it took nearly 10 years to make an identification.

“Every case has different factors. In this instance, we got the results back then and there were some procedure issues, so we got the results back in 2023,” explained HPD Cold Case Detective Ryan Kyle.

It is unclear what Holling Jr. was doing at the Manoa home. The case remains under investigation.