The views and opinions expressed in Cold and
Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All
parties mentioned are considered innocent until
proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing
also contains adult themes and languages. Listener
discretion is advised. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin
-Sulkowski. And I'm your co -host, Eli Sulkowski.
And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover
cold cases and missing person cases. Hello, everyone,
and welcome back to Cold and Missing. I'm your
host, Ali. And I'm your co -host, Eli. Welcome
back, everyone. We are back at it. Apologies
for taking some time off last week. I was very
busy with work, life, groceries, chores. A lot
of stuff was going on last week, so we did not
have the time to sit down together and record,
but we are back at it this week. So thank you
to those of you who have been longtime listeners.
To all of our listeners, but for being understanding
because we are people just like you navigating
life things just like you guys. So thank you
again for being here and for always being understanding
listeners. Totally. Cold and missing is unfortunately
not our full -time job. So occasionally other
things just dominate the week. But we're here.
We're back. We're on episode 155. And we are
on a missing person case. All right, let's get
into it. Let's do it. So just as a bit of a content
warning at the top, this case does involve a
young person. Today, we are talking about the
missing person case of Jie Zhao Li. And this takes
place in Honolulu, Hawaii, in February of 1988.
But first, a little bit about Jie Zhao. Jie Zhao
Li was only 12 years old when our timeline picks
up. She was born on April 10, 1975, and in the
spring of 1988, Jie Zhao was just weeks away from
turning 13. She was small for her age, only around
70 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair and
a very fair complexion. When our timeline begins,
her teeth are slightly crooked, giving her this
unmistakable, youthful smile. Jie Zhao was a fourth
grader at Royal Elementary School. Even though
she was 12, she was placed below her age level
because she was still learning English. Her and
her family had immigrated from Canton, China,
just about a year earlier. They didn't speak
much English at all. But Jizhao was learning
quickly. She understood far more than she could
comfortably speak, and teachers said she worked
hard to keep up. The Li's family life in Honolulu
was not easy. There were five of them. Jizhao,
her parents, an older sister who was around 15,
and a younger sister who was around 5. They were
all living in what was essentially a converted
garage. The two -bedroom apartment was cramped
and deteriorating. There was no hot water. Laundry
was done by hand, with water boiled on the stove.
The kitchen still had an icebox instead of a
refrigerator. This was better than the circumstances
they had come from. In China at this time, Jizhao
had to be kept hidden away due to the country's
laws around daughters and multiple children.
When the family had a third daughter, they knew
that they needed to move, so they quickly got
to Hawaii. Jizhao was taken to life in Hawaii
and helped wherever she could. Neighbors and
teachers described her as a conscientious, sensitive,
and kind child. She followed rules. She listened.
She didn't cause any trouble. Her teachers remembered
her generosity, how she would bring candy to
school and shared it freely with the other kids.
She loved hopscotch at recess. She was always
dressed very neatly at school, always in long
pants or dresses. She was especially protective
of her little sister, once becoming so upset.
when her sister was being bullied, that she cried
while trying to explain what had happened to
a teacher. A neighbor says, quote, she's a tiny,
skinny little girl, a really nice, sweet little
girl. And now a timeline of events. Thursday,
February 11th, 1988. That Thursday began like
any other normal school day. At Royal Elementary,
students at this time were in the final days
of selling tickets for a school fundraiser, a
Zippy's Chili Dinner meant to raise money for
a three -day class trip to the Big Island. The
goal was to sell 50 tickets, totaling $125 to
help pay for the trip. There was even a prize
for students who sold all of their tickets. At
first, Jie Zhao didn't want to participate. She
wasn't sure about going on the trip. But when
she learned that one of her friends was going,
she changed her mind. Her homeroom teacher, Sherry
Kim, later said that within just a few days,
Jie Zhao had already sold 18 tickets, bringing
back $45. She was very determined. That afternoon
of Thursday, February 11th, Jie Zhao asked her
mother if she could go out and sell tickets after
school. Mrs. Li hesitated. She had recently seen
a television commercial about missing children
and didn't like the idea of her daughter being
out alone. But Jizhao begged. She promised she
would only go out for one hour. She promised
that she wouldn't go far. She said that this
was her last chance. She was in the final days
and whatever tickets she didn't sell, she would
have to turn in. She even borrowed her sister's
watch so that way she could keep track of time.
Eventually, her mother agreed. A little more
than an hour. She was supposed to be home by
5 p .m. So right around 3 .30, Jisoo leaves her
home. She was carrying the red chili tickets
and wearing white shorts with three small hearts
on them, a light yellow or beige shirt with a
long stemmed flower across the chest, and blue
shoes with a dark blue purse worn on a strap.
Her shoes are described as slippers, blue slippers.
Her first stop appears to have been to a neighbor's
house, where she asked another young girl if
she wanted to sell tickets together. The girl
couldn't go. She had plans with a relative. So
Jisoo said goodbye and continued on her own.
Shortly after leaving the friend's house, Jisoo
entered a Radio Shack store nearby. An employee
later told police that he bought a ticket from
her around 3 .30 p .m. The store wasn't that
busy. He remembered her clearly. Says, quote,
Another Radio Shack employee did notice one other
detail. She appeared to be looking around and
the employee, interpreted it as she was looking
for someone. They got the impression that there
was an adult waiting just outside. They assumed
her parent, but that's what it looked like when
she left the Radio Shack. At around 4 p .m.,
Jie Zhao approached another neighbor to sell tickets.
He remembered her being persistent, determined.
He told her that he'd already bought several
tickets. After that, police believe she headed
towards a familiar place, the 7 -Eleven. Jie Zhao
and her sisters were known at the 7 -Eleven near
Nuanu Avenue and South Kuakini Street. They often
stopped there for soda or to watch other kids
play video games. Police confirm, and when they
talk about the case today, they do believe that
the last verified sighting of Jie Zhao is at the
7 -Eleven. The time is pretty broad, between
4 and 4 .45. However, when police talk about
the case today, the time is closer to 4 .45 that
they believe that she was last seen. So 5 o 'clock
rolls around and Jie Zhao was expected to be home.
But she doesn't walk through the door. So her
family waits for a little bit, but increasingly
they begin to worry. Her parents began searching
the neighborhood. As the minutes stretched on,
the fear started to take hold. At 8 .47 p .m.,
Jie Zhao was officially reported as missing. Initially,
police classified the case as a runaway that
evening. No official search was launched that
night. The next day, Friday, February 12th, In
the morning, investigators reviewing the overnight
cases quickly realized something didn't quite
fit here. Jie Zhao had never gone farther than
School Street. She was very obedient, responsible.
She had promised to be home. Police quickly began
to believe in the morning that this is not a
runaway at all. The case is escalated and police
head out to talk to the family and begin the
investigation. Saturday, February 13th, police
canvassed the Nuanu area, knocking on doors and
visiting businesses. Because of the language
barrier with Jizhao's parents, early descriptions
of her clothing were uncertain. Later, police
are able to confirm what she had been wearing,
which is the description that I gave earlier.
Despite hours of searching, no solid leads emerged.
Police said openly that they feared she had been
abducted. There was no sign of her purse, chili
tickets, and nobody had seen anything. On Valentine's
Day that year, February 14th, through translators,
Jie Zhao's parents spoke to the media from their
small apartment. Her mother cried as she described
waiting all night for her daughter to come home.
Members of the Honolulu Chinese Alliance Church
joined the search, going door to door to ask
people if they knew anything. Still, nothing
turned up. In the days that followed, from February
15th through the 18th, police chased tips, dozens
of them. They widened the search beyond the Nuwanu
area. Police set up roadblocks near the 7 -Eleven.
Police stopped every single car that was driving
through the area at around the time that they
believed Jizhao had been abducted, which would
be around 4 .45 to 5 p .m. Police officers boarded
school buses to ask children if they had seen
or heard about anything. One thing that did start
to happen is that conflicting sightings started
to complicate things. So where Jizhao was last
seen? There's a 7 -Eleven on one corner, and
then a block away, there's another 7 -Eleven.
And today, if you look up this area, there's
still the two 7 -Elevens just a block apart.
So some witnesses placed Jie Zhao at the Kuanekini
Street 7 -Eleven as late as 4 .45 p .m. However,
other people said they saw her at the 7 -Eleven
just one block away on School Street. at that
very same time, around 4 .45 in the afternoon.
When police talk about the case today, again,
they believe she was last seen at the Kuanakini
Street, 7 -11. Two Mormon missionaries later
came forward saying that they watched Jisau for
around 15 to 20 minutes as she tried to sell
her chili tickets. They didn't speak to her,
they just kind of watched her while they drank
a soda, and they left before she did. Police
also begin investigating reports that she had
been seen speaking with a man. They even create
a composite sketch, but they don't immediately
release the composite sketch to the public. By
February 19th, the case was handed over to the
homicide unit. They also release the sketches
of the man believed to have spoken to Jie Zhao.
for at least 10 minutes outside of the school
street 7 -11. So this would be the 7 -11 that
is the block away from where she is believed
to have last been seen. They believe that she
talked to him for about 10 minutes between 4
.30 and 4 .45. He was described as white, in
his 30s, tall and slender and neatly dressed.
At the same time, police revealed another troubling
lead that they had gotten. Multiple witnesses
reported seeing a girl resembling Jie Zhao days
after her disappearance on Valentine's Day, February
14th, sitting in the backseat of a yellow vintage
Chevrolet at a service station. The car was last
seen again without the girl that same day, which
was Valentine's Day. Dark hair pulled into a
ponytail that had been dyed orange. He had a
dark complexion and appeared to be in his 30s.
From March through April of 1988, hundreds of
volunteers searched throughout Honolulu, covering
rugged terrain, neighborhoods, coastlines, for...
Over a month, these searches happened on every
single Saturday, and it was organized by volunteers.
It was not the police. However, these searches
did not turn up a single sign of Jie Zhao. On
April 21st of 1988, so this would have been just
over two months since Jie Zhao was last seen,
Jie Zhao's mother reported a failed kidnapping
attempt, or what seemed to be a failed kidnapping
attempt. She reported that while she was walking
to work before dawn around 5 .30 a .m., a man
pulled up near her and rolled down the window
and started talking to her. She didn't fully
understand what he was trying to say, but it
scared her so much that she took off running.
This was eventually reported to the police. Police
investigate this to see if there's any connection
to Jisoo, but it doesn't appear that they're
ever able to really get far in. tracking down
who did this to Jisal's mother, let alone where
Jisal was. So by the end of April, searches slowed
and Leigh's really dried up. Immediately, the
case seems to go cold. In the months that follow,
the Leigh family do end up getting a house that's
donated to them by the Habitat for Humanity.
But in the years that follow, There's really
no new updates in the case. Jie Zhao's face appeared
in newspapers over the years in like missing
person ads and like other children missing. Her
age progressed photos were mailed out on national
mailers. However, the mailers were only sent
out in the continental United States. None of
them were sent out in Hawaii. So some leads did
generate from that. But again, none of them led
to Jie Zhao. Her father walked the street where
she was last seen, night after night for years
looking for her. The last real update that I
could find came in 2014, and again, there was
really no new news. It was just retelling of
her story. But what we did get is an age -progressed
photo, which does appear to be the most recent
one, which was done in 2014, which was over 30
years since she was last seen. So with that,
if you know anything about the disappearance
of Jizao Li or her whereabouts today, please
call the Honolulu Police Department at 808 -529
-3111. So that is the missing person case of
Jizao Li. Before we get into her timeline, as
always, I just wanted to speak a little bit about
Jizao and her personality. And honestly, what
her circumstances were for her very young life.
And just off the bat, she and her family assimilating
over from China because of this rule is, for
the most part, it's kind of unimaginable for
me. But I can at least understand that it's probably
a very stressful adjustment, not just for her.
but for her entire family, and an emotional adjustment.
Just circling back to what was happening in China
for her before she and her family got to the
U .S., being a child and being hidden by her
parents because they fear their government's
law so deeply is... I would imagine something
very difficult to understand when you are young.
This young person, these people, had already
gone through so much, and what happened to them
after getting to the U .S. is horrifying. Just
absolute worst -case scenario, I think, for someone
who is trying to find a better life. For themselves.
I understand why her personality was the way
that it was and the way that you spoke about
it, that she was very well behaved and safe and
protective of her sister. I think that some of
those personality traits or even behaviors are
probably born from the life that that she had.
What the Li family like had to go through, you
know. In China and then getting to Hawaii. And
then, you know, they say, like, a year later,
essentially, that they got to Hawaii. Jie Zhao
was abducted. So I can't imagine the pain and
just what that family has gone through. So, like,
I really just, like, feel for this family more
than anything. is, you know, her sisters, her
parents. This must have been very difficult to
lose somebody like Jie Zhao, who was so dependent
on, or not dependent, but independent rather.
Like she, you know, really helped out around
the house. Like her mom spoke about, she would
just help do laundry. If she just saw the laundry,
she'd just go do it. So I know her loss is huge
in this family's life. I just really see this,
like, determined little sales girl just trying
to sell these tickets and, like, go on this trip
with her friend. And what a normal part of childhood.
Like, that was in the 80s and 90s at least. That
was so normal. And it's just a devastating case.
Yeah, you bringing that up takes us right into...
The timeline, speaking about, again, just her
personality and the type of kid she was and being
responsible, as the timeline begins, we do learn
that she takes her sister's watch to keep track
of time. And obviously no cell phones at that
time, so a watch would be the only thing available.
And the fact that she was the one who suggested
it, like, I'll borrow my sister's watch, again,
I think says a lot about, So quickly after that,
everything ramps up. I know that you mentioned
her possibly being seen at the local 7 -Eleven
that she and her sisters were known for being
there, watching kids play video games. I'm a
little bit younger than Giselle, but my siblings
and I hung out at our local 7 -Eleven. And it
was about 10 years later, like in the mid -90s.
It was pretty regular for us to do that. We would
walk through our neighborhood to go there. So
her doing that, socializing in that way, seemed
very normal. Yeah, the 7 -Eleven, I'm sure, felt
very safe to Jisoo. And I think it was a smart
place for her to like kind of think to go to
sell these tickets like where people are going.
They probably have some cash on them. It does
sound like in the reports that she had been there
in the days beforehand trying to sell tickets.
So maybe she had seen some success there. So
that's kind of naturally where she was headed.
But yeah, it's. And it seemed very busy. That's
the thing. Jie Zhao was seen, you know, at the
7 -Eleven, it seems, till 4 .45. And then likely
she would have started moving home to get home
by 5 p .m. But really that 15 minutes seems to
be the window. Police believe the abduction happened
around 5 p .m. So I would be curious to know
if police have... had witnesses outside of the
7 -Eleven at all. Because it really does seem
like that was truly where she banished from.
So that 15 -minute window happens. And, you know,
I am not a parent, but I think my reaction would
be very similar to what her parents was. And,
you know, I'm sure within minutes. of of it surpassing
15 minutes they knew something was wrong from
my understanding and just knowing parents having
parents as siblings like you usually know in
your gut when something is off with your kid
and it sounds like to me that that was true for
her parents yeah her parents were out there searching
um it seems like within an hour and a half uh
they were out searching but um Within, it seems,
about four hours of when Jisoo was last seen,
the police are called. So pretty quickly, like,
the parents decide that it is serious enough
and that this is enough out of Jisoo's character
that they need to call the police, which I'm
sure was very scary for them. I'm sure they've
never had to call 911 before. So that must have
been really scary and a daunting mountain to
climb. Yeah, not to mention, you know, this family
is still actively assimilating. And there's always
that possibility that law enforcement's response,
especially to someone who is not speaking English
as their first language in America, might not
be a great one. And I was happily surprised that
in this case, it seemed like law enforcement
was doing their job. happily surprised to know
that, you know, they were doing the search and
then continued to widen it. In a lot of cases,
especially ones we've covered, we are often let
down. Often, like, if I'm being completely honest,
sick to my stomach in the way that law enforcement
has responded in other cases outside of Juzau.
So I... I'm glad that they responded in the way
that they did. And I do think that because they
did, there is room for answers now. Because people
did their job back then, there's a possibility
that there's room for this case to be solved.
Yeah, you know, in the morning, they decided
to take Giselle's case seriously, but we did
lose that first night. Nobody was out. searching
officially from the police. Yeah. But to your
point, like once they, you know, really sat down
and saw what they had, they started to take it
seriously. And then community response by continuing
the search and widening it like the. The community
search, they were like, we are searching this
entire island looking for her. And it seems like
for the most part, they did cover most of the
island. They just never found any sign of her.
They never found the watch, no tickets, the purse,
clothing, nothing that was on Jisal was ever
recovered as far as we know. Now, for this portion,
I know we can speculate endlessly about who the
guy was that was speaking to her. And then I
believe, and maybe you can offer up some clarification
here, there's another man with the orange hair.
Yeah, two men. So one of the men, there's a white
man in his mid -30s that several witnesses said
was talking to Jie Zhao. at the 7 -11 that was
like a block away from the one that she was officially
last seen at so that sketch is released we're
going to put that on our instagram and then the
second man was the man that was seen driving
the yellow Chevrolet. And the yellow Chevrolet
had primer spots on it. There were like three
distinct primer spots. But this was like a 1950s,
like a late 1950s Chevrolet. So very distinct
yellow in color. And that man had the dark hair
that was like tied into a ponytail. And the ends
of the ponytail were like dyed orange. Thank
you for that clarification. what I thought that
it was, but it's helpful just to know that there
was a difference. Again, especially because there
are fresh eyes on this, I think that the fact
that there were multiple sightings of her and
sightings of the one, the white guy, and then
the guy with the orange hair, I think it's great
that there are some vivid descriptions of you
know, possible, possible perps, or at least maybe
people with information at the time. And again,
I know this was in the late 80s, but that is
not that long ago. No. And, you know, we don't
have a sketch of the man driving the car, but
it is a very distinct car. And according to police,
they went through records. You know, there's
only so many cars on an island, but it doesn't
appear that they were ever able to track this
particular car down. But it's distinct enough.
Late 1950s Chevrolet, yellow in color in Hawaii.
that somebody should recognize that. And then
this sketch as well of the man seen talking to
her at 7 -Eleven. While we are reaching kind
of the end of the timeline, just to quickly pivot
to what happened with her mother, I wanted to
take a moment to talk about just what I kind
of think was happening or what it looks like
to me. And it seems like there was someone who...
Was obviously, you know, in the area acting on
and displaying predatory behavior or stalking
behavior or just violent behavior. So I. To me,
that's what I think was possibly happening. I
would be very curious to know, you know, if police
were ever able to connect it ultimately to your
point. You know, I think it speaks to like maybe
what was happening in the neighborhood or who
somebody was in the neighborhood that was, you
know, acting this way, acting out. But ultimately,
you know, the case just goes cold so quickly.
And I'm so hopeful that somebody will either
recognize the sketch, like recognize the car,
and we'll just be able to come forward with some
information that will ultimately be able to give
the Li family answers. Ultimately, they would
like to have them in this case. So again, if
you know anything about the disappearance of
Jisao Li in February of 1988 or her whereabouts
today, please call the Honolulu Police Department
at 808 -529 -3111. And like I mentioned during
the timeline, We will have pictures of Jie Zhao
on our Instagram as well as age progress photos
and the sketch of the suspect. So you can find
that at Cold and Missing. Eli does the graphics
every week. Please share them if you have the
chance to just to get the case out there. This
is a very well -known case in Hawaii, but not
as well -known outside of the island. So please
share it, share the sketch. Let's get energy
behind the case and maybe somebody out there
knows something. If you or someone you love is
hard of hearing and needs transcripts to follow
along with our podcast, you can do that at www
.coldandmissing .com. That's where the official
transcripts are, as well as all of our other
episodes. So please head there if that's what
you're looking for. And if you have some time
today, if you could leave us a review, it's really
helpful in getting the podcast to other people
and folks to listen to it and take a chance on
this and ultimately sharing it five stars. That
gets the case out there. That gets people listening.
So if you could help the case out and leave five
stars, that would be so incredible. But that
is all I have for you this week. I'm your host,
Ali . And I'm your co -host, Eli. Have a good
week and stay safe, y 'all. Stay safe, y 'all.