Hawaii County police said an Alaska man is now the prime suspect in the strangulation of his pregnant 25-year-old girlfriend whose body was dumped off a cliff along the Kalapana coast.
Police are seeking the public’s help in locating Boaz "Bo" David Johnson, 22, who has been missing since before the body of Brittany Jane Royal was found on May 28.
Police consider him a suspect "after the completion of additional follow-ups conducted in this investigation," according to a county news release. He still may be on the island, but Lt. Gregory Esteban said police are looking into the possibility that Johnson may be on the mainland. Hawaii police are also working with authorities in Alaska.
There are no leads at this time, he said.
"We don’t have any definitive information as to whether he was able to leave the island."
Johnson, of Petersburg, Alaska, is described as 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing about 150 pounds with a slim build and fair complexion. He was last seen unshaven with medium-length brown hair. He has a tattoo of a horse’s upper body near the right side of his abdomen. Police said he is considered dangerous.
On the morning of May 28, police received a call about a body caught in a boat’s fishing line. The body was identified through fingerprints as Royal’s. The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide, concluding that she had been strangled.
Police said Royal and Johnson had been camping in a Kalapana lava field. Police documents said a bundled nylon rope was found inside the couple’s tent, and that the rope’s width was consistent with marks on Royal’s neck, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.
Esteban said the autopsy also showed that injuries on her head and body "were consistent with direct contact with a jagged surface and may have caused drag marks."
The Tribune-Herald reported that an officer found what appeared to be human hair along a lava flow and with "what appeared to be drag marks and disturbance to the ground leading in the makai direction."
Evidence from the campsite was collected and sent to a mainland forensic laboratory.
Johnson’s parents, Tom and Kathy Johnson, said their son has been unfairly portrayed as a suspect.
During a phone interview from Petersburg Wednesday, Johnson’s sister, Sarah Johnson, said, "From the beginning, we stand by his innocence."
She added, "I want to know the evidence that has recently surfaced to result in this claim that they (police) are making."
The Johnsons said they made repeated calls to the police department to no avail.
Johnson’s parents had told the Tribune-Herald that their son may also have been a victim of crime. His sister said: "I pray every day that that’s not the case. I pray that he’s all right."
But it’s out of character for him to not inform someone of his whereabouts, she said.
Johnson’s family last heard from him on May 27, the day before Royal was found.
"I knew he would protect Brittany to his best. I know he loved her. He was the happiest that I’ve seen him when he was with her," Sarah Johnson added. "They were creating a life together and starting a life together at the same time."
Royal’s mother created a Facebook page, justiceforbrittanyroyal, in hopes that it will help lead to information on Johnson’s whereabouts.
"We’re hoping somebody will do the right thing," Julie Royal said during a phone interview from Tustin, Calif. "If Bo did this and he is afraid, he needs to man up."
Royal’s mother said she doesn’t know what specific evidence police collected to give them a reason to consider him a suspect.
"Whatever it is, they certainly felt like they had enough information to outright call him a suspect because they haven’t done that before," she said.
Royal’s mother first met Johnson when he and her daughter visited in mid-May. Royal told her mother on Mother’s Day that she was about three months’ pregnant. She had discovered she was pregnant weeks earlier while visiting Johnson’s parents in Alaska.
"Do I want it to be Bo Johnson?" she asked. "Absolutely not. He was the father of his unborn child."
Royal met Johnson on Hawaii island when she moved there in January. She had visited previously and thought the Kalapana area would be an ideal place to start a family.
Her mother said there were no signs of trouble in the relationship.
"They were both very excited about the baby," she said. "He was very excited about it."
Royal and Johnson set up a campsite on a 10-acre property that Johnson planned to buy. He was scheduled to meet a real estate agent on May 28 but did not show up.
Royal’s father, Ted, said he considered Johnson as a suspect from the beginning. "From my perspective, nothing has changed."
"Everybody is innocent until proven guilty," he said. "I’m certainly not going to judge him. We’ll wait and see where it goes on from here."
Ted Royal recalled how he was excited to hear that his daughter had met somebody and that she was going to be a mother.
"People forget that we lost two souls in this," he said from Tustin, Calif. "We have a grandchild that we will never get to know."
Royal’s father described Johnson as quiet and polite when he first met him in May.
"He seemed like a nice kid," he said. "I hope they find him and I hope he’s safe."
A memorial service and celebration of life for Royal will be held in California on July 27. Her ashes will be scattered in the ocean off Newport Beach.
Anyone with information on Johnson’s whereabouts is urged to contact Detective Robert Almeida at 961-2386 or ralmeida@co.hawaii.hi.us; Detective Fetuutuunai Amuimuia at 961-2278 or famuimuia@co.hawaii.hi.us; or Lt. Gregory Esteban at 961-2252 or gesteban@hawaiicounty.gov.
Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous may call CrimeStoppers at 961-8300 in Hilo or 329-8181 in Kona.
