Big Island couple loses everything in brazen robbery

HONOLULU (KHON2) — Clare Ventura and Kimo Field said they are heartbroken and stunned after they say thieves broke into their home Wednesday morning.

According to the couple, thousands of dollars worth of items were taken and attempted to be sold at pawn shops nearby.

Ventura said she was on Maui on Wednesday when she received a call from a stranger who told her he had found her business cards littered across the road.

She said a few minutes later, her husband Kimo called and told her they had been robbed while he was at work.

“Once I saw the gate open, I already knew that somebody came into the property and — and burglarized and just destroyed everything,” said Field.

Field said he hoped he had made it home in time to catch the thieves but it was too late.

“They just stole everything possible,” said Ventura. “Guitar, cameras, the boat engine, the fishing reels, they even stole clothing, they opened the drawers and stole clothing, surf shorts.”

“The sad thing is I had a locket from our daughter, Andrea, who passed away a few years ago, and they stole that as well,” Ventura added. “It was one of those old-fashioned lockets that when you open it up, there’s her picture, now it’s gone.”

The thieves took off with Ventura’s car too.

Hawaii Island police told the couple they found it charred on the side of the road Sunday morning.

The couple planned on opening a non-profit boat tour on a canoe Field had bought last month. The couple wanted to share stories about Hawaii from Hilo Harbor.

“They stole our dream, our dream of having this Hawaiian sailing canoe,” Ventura said.

“Kimo is so proud to share our Hawaiian culture with the people out there, and yet now, the thieves stole the boat engine and they stole the fishing reels,” she added.

Field went to pawn shops in Hilo and asked if anyone had brought in their valuables.

Field said one of the owners recognized the fishing reels and said a woman had tried to get money for them.

The couple posted the photo of the woman on social media and people identified the woman but as of Sunday afternoon, the suspects are still on the loose.

“People are getting outraged,” Field said. “You got more neighborhood watches that are popping up right now, people are gonna start taking matters into their own hands.”

“It is just gotten more and more worse as the years have passed,” Field added. “It’s not a happy, pleasant feeling of aloha, like it always has been and should be.”

The couple is asking the public to be on the lookout for any of their items and to call the police if they have any information on the suspects.