BONGAK “JACKIE” KOJA:
Missing since taking an
early morning walk Monday

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Missing woman’s
husband has hope

‘She’s very healthy and there’s a
possibility that she's still unconscious’

By Linda Aragon
Star-Bulletin

The husband of a Wahiawa Heights woman who has been missing since Monday hasn't given up hope that his wife is still alive.

"I'm hoping they find her very soon," James Koja said today. "She's very healthy and there's a possibility that she's still unconscious."

A mile away from Koja's home this morning, police used dogs to search in gulches and under the thick growth of Wahiawa Botanical Garden.

On the campus of Leilehua High School, across the street from the garden, school janitors found two large pools of blood Monday.

Koja last saw his wife, Bongak "Jackie" Koja, 59 of Mie Place, at 2 a.m. Monday, when he was getting ready to go to bed and she was getting ready to take her early morning walk.

Koja said his wife was athletic, alternating workouts between the Waipio Gentry or Waimalu Spa nearly every day.

At 3 a.m. each day, she set out for her early morning walk.

Koja said his wife usually walked to California Avenue, then headed down the street, a mile past Leilehua High School to the Wahiawa Hongwanji Mission. Then she turned around and came home.

But she never returned from her walk on Monday.

About 7:10 a.m. Monday, Leilehua janitors found "plenty blood" on a concrete walkway outside of one the school's classrooms, said custodian Cheryl Barbadillo.

Barbadillo said maintenance workers hosed down the blood before school started.

She said the custodial staff assumed it was just a last day of school prank because, "Someone killed a pig here before," she said.

The concrete walkway outside the classroom where the blood was found leads to a trash can at the school's bus stop, where Koja's belongings were found.

Police found headphones, a pepper spray canister and glasses that are believed to belong to Koja.

Police worked from last night through this morning using the substance luminol to determine whether there was blood on the site that was cleaned.

Luminol changes color when applied to an area that has traces of blood.

"There was a trail of blood," Police Lt. Allen Napoleon said.

But that is just the beginning of a series of tests in the police investigation.

"Now we need another test to determine whether it was human or animal blood, and another to determine what type, and then DNA testing. The process is long," he said.

Koja's disappearance is being classified as a missing person's case.

James Koja said his nephews and friends have been searching for his wife, but have turned up nothing.

"This is the first time I heard of something like this happening over here," he said.

Napoleon said some people heard screams about 4 a.m. in the area of Leilehua High School.

"If anybody else driving in that area or living in that area heard anything or if anybody has seen her or anybody please give us," he said.

People with information about the case can call police at CrimeStoppers 955-8300 or Criminal Investigations Division at 529-3115

Koja is described as being of Korean ancestry, 5 feet, 2 inches tall, and weighing approximately 100 pounds.

She was last seen wearing long pants, a long-sleeve shirt, white sneakers and glasses.

Her husband said she also wore a floppy white cotton hat.