Big Island police opened a murder investigation after a man's body was found Wednesday in a wooded area off the Onomea Scenic Route about 10 miles north of Hilo.

Capt. Randall Medeiros, head of the Hilo Criminal Investigations Section, said the body was discovered less than a quarter-mile from where the truck of a missing Mountain View man was found.

"We've got positive ID; next of kin has not been notified at this point, so I cannot confirm or deny that it is our missing person," Medeiros said late Thursday afternoon. Asked earlier in the day if the body was that of Jason Adams, Medeiros said: "It's possible and we're exploring that possibility."


Adams, 39, of Mountain View, had been missing since Sept. 4. He was last seen that morning, driving to Hilo in his 2000 silver Nissan Frontier pickup truck. Police found the truck Saturday on the Onomea road. The passenger side window had been damaged, according to a report cited Tuesday by Sgt. Aubrey Auna.

A search of the area Saturday turned up no sign of Adams.

Medeiros said the body was partially decomposed. A written release said the body's condition "led investigators to believe foul play may have caused his death." Medeiros would not give a cause of death, but said the man had been dead "at least a few days."

An autopsy is scheduled today.

Medeiros said the body wore "at least some of the clothing that would fit the description of Mr. Adams." He said the body was found after an anonymous tip.

"What happened was a Crime Stoppers caller reported hearing gunshots in that area, so although there was a previous search of the area by Fire Department personnel with the helicopter, we decided to take out our cadaver dog and do a second search of the area on the ground," he said.

Medeiros said the call was made "during the time frame (Adams) had gone missing."

Two days before he went missing, Adams, a contractor, had been granted a temporary restraining order against his estranged wife, 34-year-old Sarah Iverson, by Hilo Family Court Judge Lloyd Van De Car. The TRO, effective until Dec. 1, ordered Iverson, aka Sarah Pennington and Sarah Adams, to have no contact with Adams and the couple's 5-year-old son, McKinley, who was in Adams' custody. Van De Car scheduled a hearing for Sept. 15 so Iverson could contest the order, if she chose.

According to a friend of Adams, Mark Kitagawa, Adams was in the process of divorcing Iverson, although papers had not been filed.

Adams stated in the TRO request that he and Iverson had been married for six years and last lived together in "May-June 2009." Adams wrote: "In the last year, she has thrown many household objects at me, slapped me, threatened that her family would come after me. I have been receiving 20-30 phone calls per day for a month with name calling, threats and general yelling. ... She has made dozens of calls per day to me, my roomate (sic), relatives, friends, landlord, etc. calling names, lying to try to allienate (sic) me from everyone I know, and making threats of all kinds." He wrote that Iverson spanked their son and that she yelled at him "on a regular basis."

Adams also stated that previous boyfriends had obtained restraining orders against Iverson, and that she had "been charged and convicted of assault in Alaska." The Tribune-Herald was not able to substantiate those allegations.

The document stated Adams thought Iverson was out-of-state when he applied for the TRO on Sept. 1. Kitagawa said he believed Iverson, who he called "Sarah Adams," arrived back from Alaska on Tuesday.

Medeiros said police would like to talk to the person who called Crime Stoppers. Anyone with information is asked to call Lt. Mitch Kanehailua at 961-2252, the police non-emergency number at 935-3311, or Crime Stoppers at 961-8300.

E-mail John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.