LIVONIA, Mich. – He’s been missing for 33 years. Do you keep searching -- or do you try to accept that you may never see your loved one again?
That’s the question still hanging over a Michigan family as they mark another year since Jeffrey Zoltowski -- an experienced hiker described as a generous, funny “free spirit” -- disappeared during a solo trip to Hawaii in 1993.
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“My logical brain says there’s no way he’s alive, but there’s always that teeny tiny percentage of hope,” his sister, Stephanie Siordia, told Local 4.
Zoltowski’s disappearance
Zoltowski was 23 years old and living in Livonia when he set out in the spring of ‘93 on a four-month hiking trip -- a dream he’d talked about and, according to his family, stayed in close contact about.
“Anytime he was on a trip, he would call almost every day,” Siordia said. “He called 31 times in 49 days.”
So, when the calls stopped for weeks, his family tried to stay calm -- until time kept passing.
By May, a missing person’s report was filed, and Zoltowski’s family learned his last known sighting was March 31, in the rugged Wailau Valley on the island of Molokai -- an area known for steep terrain and remote, unforgiving conditions.
Zoltowski was reportedly seen speaking with two men in a helicopter that day, asking if he could be flown out of the valley. His feet were “blistered and bleeding,” his sister said. The two men later reported his condition didn’t appear life-threatening, and the flight out was denied.
The men later brought Zoltowski’s heavy backpack to the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources base yard, Siordia said. She said they later offered him a lift but claimed he didn’t have enough money.
Then came a detail the family still can’t shake: Zoltowski’s backpack had been sitting at the base for 41 days.
The never-ending search
His father traveled to Molokai for six weeks to search.
“Just searched high and low -- and nothing,” Siordia said.
And the search never truly ended.
“He’s stuck in 1993, emotionally,” Siordia said of her father, through tears.
She said her family has lived with a constant tug-of-war between what seems likely after so many years, and what feels impossible to fully accept.
“If you ask my dad, I think in my heart he knows, but how do you tell a dad to stop looking for his child?’” she said.
Siordia said she still finds herself mentally filling in the blanks and then catching herself. She said she also struggles, because she believes the initial police response should have been much better.
Physical description
Zoltowski has been missing since March 31, 1993, from Molokai, Hawaii. He is classified as lost/injured missing.
Zoltowski is a white male, 6 feet tall and weighs about 160 pounds. He was last seen wearing white shorts and a purple tie-dyed T-shirt.
Zoltowski has brown hair and brown eyes. He reportedly has a birthmark on the outer right anklebone about the size of a nickel or quarter and a slight scar under his left eye.
He may have a mustache, beard or goatee. He is left-handed and has previously fractured his left ankle and left hand.
If you have any information on Zoltowski, call the Maui Police Department at 808-244-6400.