LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i Police Department officials in a press release said the female body found Friday morning in a remote Wailua Homesteads area is believed to be Nola Rebecca “Becky” Thompson, a visitor from Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., who had
LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i Police Department officials in a press release said the female body found Friday morning in a remote Wailua Homesteads area is believed to be Nola Rebecca “Becky” Thompson, a visitor from Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., who had been missing since Sept. 2.
She was found in a stream around two miles from where her rental car was discovered by KPD searchers Thursday, and police do not suspect foul play, they said.
There was no evidence of wounds on the body, and nothing to lead police to suspect foul play was involved, the release states.
Thompson, 45, had reportedly recently broken up with her boyfriend, whom she was to travel to Hawai‘i with, and friends and family said she was despondent but decided to travel alone anyway.
Because of the state of decomposition her identity will need to be verified by dental records and fingerprints. An autopsy to determine cause of death is scheduled for Monday.
The KPD investigation continues, the release states.
In response to several questions e-mailed to county officials, Beth Tokioka, executive assistant to Mayor Bernard P. Carvalho, said although no foul play is suspected, KPD investigators “are fully investigating in an attempt to determine what happened.”
James Kurasaki, a KPD detective, became ill while searching Friday morning, was taken to Wilcox Memorial Hospital, treated and released.
It was another officer who found the body believed to be Thompson, said Tokioka.