Cops: Ex-boyfriend is person of interest in Maui missing case

WAILUKU, Hawaii - Maui police said Tuesday that they don't have any suspects in the case of pregnant Maui woman Carly Scott who vanished more than a week ago, but the woman's ex-boyfriend, who is also the father of her unborn child, is now being called a person of interest, reports CBS affiliate KGMB.

Capt. John Jakubczak said at a news conference that police have interviewed Scott's ex-boyfriend, Steven Capobianco, as part of their investigation. Capobianco, 24, was reportedly the last person to have seen her.

Scott was reported missing on Feb. 10 by her mother. The 27-year-old redhead, who is five months pregnant, reportedly left her sister's home in Haiku at 8 p.m. Feb. 9 to help Capobianco, whose car had broken down on Hana Highway.

In a phone interview with KGMB last week, Capobianco said Scott picked him up at his house the night of Feb. 9 and drove him to his truck which had gotten stuck. He said he was able to fix his truck and then the two drove off to their separate homes, in separate cars.

Capobianco said he wasn’t aware Scott didn’t make it home that night until police knocked on his door the next morning. He said police later asked him to take a lie detector test, which they advised him he failed. Capobianco said he believes police told him this as a “tactic.”

Last Wednesday, Scott's SUV was found torched. Jakubczak said a private search party found clothing and other items the following day that Scott's family identified as belonging to her. Police have the items and were processing them, he said.

Jakubczak said the investigation continues to be classified as a missing person's case.

"We encourage the community, the public, to call with any information they have no matter how minute or how small they believe it is because we'll follow up on every lead or tip," Jakubczak said, according to an audio recording of the press conference provided by Maui police.

Maui police were also looking for another missing woman, Moreira Monsalve, who was last seen in January. Jakubczak said there's no evidence the cases are connected, though they are similar. Monsalve, 46, was also last seen by her ex-boyfriend and he is reportedly considered a person of interest in the case.

A team of 50 to 70 volunteers and family members have been searching for Scott since her mother reported her missing.

The team has been conducting daily searches from Haiku to Hana, by foot, on motorcycles and on all-terrain vehicles. They are armed with maps of the island and donated support including search dogs and a drone that took pictures and video of unreachable cliffs and ravines.

But Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa urged the public to allow investigators to do their job.

"Even though there's an urgency to try and solve these cases, one has to be very, very patient, those in our community have to be patient, to allow that process to evolve," he said. "Otherwise, we'll jeopardize the potential of being able to use whatever evidence is being found."

Carly Scott, who goes by the nickname Charli, was born in Woodland, Calif., grew up in Sacramento and moved to Maui about 10 years ago.

Her father, Robert Scott, flew in from Seattle last week. More than a dozen relatives have flown in from the mainland.