Polo enthusiast John Elwin told his live-in girlfriend he was off to explore investment opportunities in Cambodia.

But as Kirsten waited and worried back at their home in Hawaii, Elwin had apparently gone to see another woman -- not in Cambodia, but in the Philippines.

DENISE TRIPOLI: I was very disturbed by what I saw.

Kirsten's friend Denise discovered evidence of the other woman when she hacked into John's computer.

But before she got off the computer, she discovered something else -- something very strange.

It was something that appeared to involve Elwin's business partner Hank Jacinto.

TRIPOLI: I'm looking at e-mails from John that are going to friends of John, saying, "Oh, my friend Hank just picked me up at the airport. I'm with my friend Hank now. Hank's coming with me next week to Cambodia to buy land." And it didn't add up.

TRIPOLI: Hank had said he had never seen John in the Philippines or that he hadn't talked to him in a long time.

TRIPOLI: It was obvious from the get-go that what Hank was saying was not true.

But Kirsten told Denise that over the years she had come to know Jacinto well.

Kirsten: I said, oh, don't worry about Hank. That's the guy that John plays polo with, you know. I don't think there's anything to worry about.

After all, Jacinto and John Elwin were old and close friends. They'd first met on the polo fields more than 15 years ago. Jacinto was a member of elite polo clubs around the Pacific rim including this one in Manila.

Jacinto's success story was well known in the islands: He was a multi-millionaire who made his fortune as the founder and president of Pro-network, an international high-tech firm. The Web site lists the Department of Homeland Security as a leading client.

Compared to Jacinto, Elwin was minor league.

But there was more to Jacinto than just money. He was the founder and president of the Philippine Mission Foundation, a charity dedicated to establishing a nation-wide network of orphanages for his country's impoverished street children.

In the Philippines, the name Jacinto carries a great deal of weight.

Hank Jacinto, by all accounts, came across his upper-class ways honestly. Even the name, Jacinto.

In Manila that's a little like being called Rockefeller. His multi-million dollar businesses, his employees, his charities, orphanage were located in a district called Eastwood, which is one of the premiere neighborhoods in Manila. It's a gated community for the wealthy.

Jacinto's Asian headquarters is located in a high-rise called Cyber-one Plaza, where he also owns a popular Internet cafe.

Across town, he also owns a Land Rover-Jaguar import-repair shop.

His U.S. corporate headquarters is in a century building located near downtown Honolulu.

Kirsten trusted Jacinto. She felt she knew all of John Elwin’s varied group of friends.

Except, of course, that other woman.

Could she be the key to understanding Elwin's disappearance?

The trouble was that neither Kirsten nor Denise had any idea how to find her.

If they went to the police, what could they say? That Elwin, a grownup, a bit of a playboy, had failed to call home? Since he had left no schedule, Kirsten couldn't say for sure he was even overdue.

Overwhelmed, Kirsten turned to another of John's pals for help, his oldest and most trusted friend, Luis Soltren.

LUIS SOLTREN: When you're with someone for 30 year-- almost 30 years, you build this inner connection, this spirit thing-- that is like twins.

They'd arrived in Hawaii at the same time, both beach boys, and certainly an unlikely pair. Elwin was a tall, fair Canadian, while Soltren was a multi-racial Puerto Rican raised in New York City.

SOLTREN: It doesn't matter what color he is, you know. He's like my brother. You know, so. I was going to look for him. It's all about how you love someone.

The two were so close, Elwin even made Soltren executor of his estate -- a significant detail, for in Elwin's absence Soltren could obtain his friend's bank statements and credit card bills.

So Luis offered to pitch in and expand the unofficial investigation.

SOLTREN: And-- me and Kirsten and Denise were just digging. Were digging, digging, and digging.

SOLTREN: Started looking to John's phone bills.

MORRISON: What gave you that idea?

SOLTREN: Well, I wanted to see if there were people there that we could contact.

MORRISON: What did you find?

SOLTREN: Well-- (SIGH) nothing.

MORRISON: What do you mean?

SOLTREN: After May 14th, nothing.

Finally, Soltren contacted the Philippine National police to report that his friend, John Elwin may, repeat may have gone missing in that country.

Detectives in Manila checked with their provincial counterparts to see if any foreigners had been killed out in the countryside.

The news was not good.

SOLTREN: We got notice that they had found a body.

It was male, white, found along a mountain road, an 8-hour drive north of Manila.

He had been shot to death.

MORRISON: Was there any identification on this person any indication as to who this was?

Philippine police officer: None.

MORRISON: No ID?

Philippine police officer: No ID. No wallet.

The body, never claimed, was eventually entombed in this village cemetary.

They had no idea who the tall fair skin foreigner was so they simply wrote on his tomb “RIP Amerkano.”

But then it turned out that it could not have been the missing polo player John Elwin. Word came back that the body in the village cemetery was not an American or a Canadian. It was a European.

SOLTREN: They said it was the body of a Norwegian man.

No closer now to finding their friend, Soltren, Tripoli and Flood resumed their amateur investigation, starting over with Elwin's phone records.

SOLTREN: I looked at the numbers that he called the most. So I figure if those numbers are the ones he's calling the most, that's the most important person to him so far.

MORRISON: Right. Sure.

SOLTREN: So I called that. And that turned out to be his friend in the Philippines.

MORRISON: The woman he'd been seeing there.

SOLTREN: Yeah. The one in the Philippines.

It was an enormous break in this investigation by Elwin's friends. The woman in the Philippines was, as far as they knew, the last person to see him before he broke off contact. Any information she could provide would be very important.

And she did, indeed, have news for them, although she was frightened and wanted to say as little as possible.

She'd been with Elwin for a week, she said, but hadn't seen him since he left her to meet a friend of his -- a man by the name of Hank Jacinto.

MORE FROM CRIME STORIES

Crime stories Section Front

The Trial of Amanda Knox The Night Mary Jane Disappeared The Friday the 13th Mystery Mystery at Lost Dog Road Slideshow: Photos in the Bob Duke case When The Smoke Clears Slideshow: The Christie Fleming murder Through The Pouring Rain In Plain Sight: Jaycee Dugard Bad Chemistry Crime stories Section Front   Add Crime stories headlines to your news reader: