Couple Hikes Active Hawaii Volcano To Escape Being ‘Hunted’ By Carjacker With Gun, Drone

While visiting Maui for work in early June, Justina and Alex Lucero say they were carjacked and robbed at gunpoint. In an attempt to escape, they told KRON4 they were forced to hide and hike up Haleakalā National Park.

“Everybody was wonderful. All the locals and all the tourists that we ran into were great,” Alex began his story, telling the outlet that a local suggested a black sand beach toward the end of the Road to Hana. However, their GPS told them to go through a road that had a “Closed road” sign pushed to the side.

“And we were told earlier that day by some local, ‘Yeah, you can go all the way through. It used to be closed, but it’s not anymore.’ So we weren’t suspicious of anything like that,” Justina added. “And we were told that, you know, the locals there will use the same road, and if they come up behind you, just pull off to the side and let them pass, because they’re going to be not looking at the same scenery the way that you will.”

As they passed the sign, a truck pulled out of a driveway. While the Luceros pulled to one side to allow the truck to pass, they say the vehicle returned a few minutes later heading straight at them.

“[The driver] jumps out and comes right at us with the gun and stops us in the middle of the street,” Justina said, describing their alleged attacker as a man in a mask and a hooded sweatshirt.

They said the driver demanded them to leave all of their valuables, the keys and to empty their pockets before telling them to walk in a certain direction. As they did that, a car behind them then began to drive in their direction.

“Now, he’s coming towards us. So we very, very quickly went from a fast walk to a sprint up this gulch,” Alex said.

The couple then found some large boulders to hide behind as they could hear the suspect yelling for them.

“He’s yelling for us to show ourselves. ‘Yeah, I’ll find you. I’ll find you.’ And he, at some point, he counts down from, I don’t know if it was 10 or I heard him at five. And at the end of it, he shot the gun off,” Alex said.

The pair said the suspect was then joined in his search for them by others, as the couple — both in swimsuits, slippers and having no phones — continued to hike up the active volcano in an escape attempt.

As daylight turned to night, their alleged carjacker and his associates used flashlights and even a drone to help aid in their search. The Luceros, however, continued to hike higher, eventually finding water from a small waterfall — feeling like they were being “hunted” the entire time.

They finally found someone who could help — a park ranger — more than 24 hours after the ordeal began.

On June 8, Christopher Helmer was arrested for a separate kidnapping and terroristic threat from May. Per the couple, he was found in their rental car and had attempted to use their credit cards. He was later indicted on additional charges of robbery, firearms, car theft and drug charges in connection to the Lucero case.