MauiJen - hoping you can help ... thanks!!!
How heavily traveled is this area of Hana Highway that late on a Sunday evening (9:30pm or so)?
Is it possible that Charli went to help her ex-bf and not a single car would have passed them during the short time they were at his truck (I believe he said about 10 minutes in his interview)?
Also, is hitchhiking very common? It is pretty common here and there's a lot of folks who think nothing of giving them rides. Maybe the ex-bf hitched a ride home after his truck broke down/got stuck. If so, then there would be someone who could verify his story I suppose.
Last question - would a tourist even notice a truck off the road, in a ditch or whatever? Like would it be the only one along the whole stretch of scenic highway? Does that make sense? Just thinking I wouldn't pay much attention to a local vehicle alongside the road here but if it was clearly stuck in a ditch, I'd at least look to see if someone was in it & roll my window down and see if they needed help.
Julieonmaui can answer these questions too. But, from my perspective, that area of Hana Hwy isn't that busy at that time of night. It hasn't been clear though if his truck was actually ON the Hana Hwy, or off on a little side road (I can see if he was broke down on a little side trail, he'd still describe it as being stuck on Hana Hwy). It's possible he was off on a side road and the traffic on the Hwy wouldn't see it. If he was actually on the Hwy though, and there for 10-15 minutes, there's a decent chance someone drove by them. If his truck was there for a day or 2 before they went out there to fix it, surely someone saw it. A LOT of people drive that road every day (I am sure there are statistics out there somewhere). Most tourists probably try to make it back before dark, but a lot of them underestimate how long it actually takes to get to Hana and they spend longer than they planned in Kipahulu, and if it gets dark on the drive back, they are likely driving super slow on the way back into town. It is DARK out there (no street lights, etc). So yeah, someone definitely could have seen them. But then again, it's also very possible that 10 minutes could go by and no cars pass. It's a tough one.
Hitch-hiking. Yes, there are hitch-hikers all over the island and they do get picked up. I know Charli and she's not stupid. She's sweet, but not stupid. I could see her stopping to pick up a female hitch-hiker at night, but I don't know too many females who would stop to pick up a male in that area at night. I wouldn't pick up any hitch-hiker (male or female) if I was alone. My husband and I have picked up hitch-hikers before on the road to hana though, but it's been couples who were obviously camping / backpacking.
There was a time when so many of our roads were littered with abandoned vehicles. We don't have a great way to dispose of vehicles once they die, and people sometimes can't afford to pay to have them recycled or whatever at the junkyard (for awhile we didn't even have an operating junkyard that would accept a dead car). It is an island, remember - we don't have an unlimited supply of land for things like that. So people would just abandon their vehicle on the side of the road when it died. This has improved significantly over the last few years. You don't see nearly as many cars on the side of the road. However, like I said, that area is frequented by hunters / fisherman, so sometimes you'll see those kinds of trucks pulled off the road. Or people are just hiking or whatever. I don't think the truck itself would draw much attention. But if they were there Sunday night working on it, someone might remember seeing that.
