MAKAWELI – Kaua`i Police have begun a homicide investigation into the death of a woman whose decomposed body was found by her campsite in the Pakala area Wednesday afternoon. The victim was identified as a 43-year-old woman from Maui. Lt.
MAKAWELI – Kaua`i Police have begun a homicide investigation into the death of
a woman whose decomposed body was found by her campsite in the Pakala area
Wednesday afternoon.
The victim was identified as a 43-year-old woman from
Maui. Lt. Bill Ching, who heads KPD’s Adult Investigations Section, said the
woman’s name will be released after police have contacted family members about
her death.
Ching said the victim was Caucasian and of slight build.
Two
other victims of brutal crimes in West Kaua’i this year also were Caucasian and
of slight build.
The cause of death is unknown, but an autopsy is scheduled
to be held at Wilcox Hospital today, Ching said.
Kaua’i police were called
Wednesday afternoon to the vicinity of Pakala Beach by a Westside resident who
reported a “non-responsive” female.
By that evening, what police discovered
was being called a “possible homicide,” said inspector Melvin Morris.
When
asked if there was any connection between this incident and the still-unsolved
murder of 38-year-old Lisa Bissell of Hanapepe in April, Morris declined
commenting.
“It would be premature to say anything. My people are out there
and I’m on my way,” Morris said yesterday.
The body was discovered
approximately 10 miles southeast of where Bissell’s corpse was found in an
irrigation ditch about a mile east of Polihale State Park on April 7.
On
May 22, a 52-year-old Kekaha woman was stabbed and battered while fighting off
an attacker. That crime is also still unsolved. The victim described her
attacker as “a local male.”
Bissell and the 52-year-old victim were
slightly built, Caucasian and middle-aged.
This would be the third
homicide on Kaua`i in the past five months. In addition to Bissell, 48-year-old
Jeff Brisbois was shot while he slept on a mattress in his Waniha home June
26.
Matthew Blankswade, 21, is charged with the murder of Brisbois and
remains in the Kaua`i Community Correctional Center in lieu of bail. His trial
is slated for late November.
Staff writer Lester Chang contributed to
this article
