‘That’s the Amber Alert girl!’ Kidnapped teen rescued at a cafe, Hawaii mom says

A 15-year-old girl missing for 20 hours after being kidnapped turned up at a Hilo cafe with her accused abductor, leading to an impromptu rescue by workers in Hawaii.

“‘That’s strange. She doesn’t look like she’s wearing her own clothes,” diner Kori Takaki thought when she saw the teen, dressed in men’s clothing, arguing with her companion Saturday, Sept. 17, at Cafe Pesto, Hawaii News Now reported.

Host Chloe Saplan told KHON2 the man was acting “a little odd.”

Cafe manager Mario Castillo told the station the girl started crying and a scuffle broke out when host Bridge Hartman tried to pull her away from the man.

“And I yelled out, ‘That’s the girl. That’s the Amber Alert girl!’” Hartman told Hawaii News Now. She rushed the teen into the back of the restaurant while the man with her fled.

“She seemed really scared,” Takaki, who sat with the teen after her 11 a.m. rescue, told KHON2. “She was shaking. But she seemed, I mean, as good as I could imagine.”

Police reunited her with her family, according to the station.

She disappeared Friday, Sept. 16, from Anaehoomalu Bay when a man armed with a knife forced her to tie up her boyfriend, also 15, and abducted her, West Hawaii Today said.

“I want to thank all of her friends, family and strangers who came out to look for her,” Char Debina, the girl’s mother, told the publication. She also thanked police and other searchers.

Police arrested Duncan Kealoha Mahi, 52, about 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, the publication said. An earlier police news release said he was being sought in connection with the abduction.

This was the first Amber Alert issued on Hawaii Island, West Hawaii Today reported.

This story was originally published September 18, 2022 at 11:49 AM with the headline "‘That’s the Amber Alert girl!’ Kidnapped teen rescued at a cafe, Hawaii mom says."