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Honolulu police review video in Jenny Lupton death
The death of Southwest flight attendant Jenny Lupton remains classified as an unattended death as Honolulu detectives review video and interview witnesses.
Honolulu police are reviewing surveillance video and conducting interviews as they investigate the death of Southwest Airlines flight attendant Jenny Lupton, whose family says she fell from a 24th-floor hotel balcony during a layover in Waikiki.
Lupton, 50, died on August 20. The Honolulu Police Department opened an unattended-death investigation that day and said on August 24 that its Homicide Detail is actively examining the circumstances.
Police have not determined the manner of death, according to the department. Detectives are carrying out numerous interviews, recovering surveillance video and examining physical evidence. HPD said it is limiting the release of some information while the case remains active.
The department’s use of its Homicide Detail has attracted national attention, but it does not amount to a public finding that Lupton was killed. Honolulu police procedures require Criminal Investigation Division notification in unattended deaths, and HPD has not reclassified Lupton’s case as a murder investigation.
The most detailed description of the scene has come from her relatives. Hannah Lupton told USA TODAY that the Honolulu Department of the Medical Examiner informed the family that Jenny appeared to have fallen from the balcony of her room on the 24th floor of the Hilton Hawaiian Village. She said Jenny was found near a contamination bin below the balcony.
Hawaii News Now reported a similar account from a nephew, who said the family was told she fell from the 24th floor and landed in a waste bin.
No final public ruling explains how or why the fall happened. Honolulu police have not said whether they believe it was accidental, intentional or caused by another person. The family has said it does not believe Lupton intended to harm herself and has asked authorities to consider the possibility of foul play.
Relatives have also described the hours before her death. They said Lupton spent time with a fellow flight attendant, went dancing and had the outline of a hibiscus tattoo made. She later discussed having the tattoo colored after returning to Oklahoma, with a family member planning to get a matching design.
Those plans are among the reasons her relatives say they struggle to accept an intentional-death explanation. Investigators, however, have not announced a conclusion based on those messages or any other evidence.
Lupton had worked as a flight attendant for 29 years, including 26 years with Southwest, her niece told USA TODAY. She was the mother of a 15-year-old son.
Southwest Airlines confirmed the death of a colleague during a Hawaii layover and said it had offered condolences and support to the employee’s family and coworkers. The airline said it is engaged with local authorities as the investigation continues.
Oklahoma officials have also entered the case. The office of Attorney General Gentner Drummond told USA TODAY it contacted the office of Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez to help ensure a proper investigation and is communicating with Lupton’s family.
The key evidence remains outside public view. HPD has not said what the surveillance recordings show, whether detectives have identified witnesses to the fall or whether anyone else was in Lupton’s hotel room in the relevant period. Claims circulating online about those points have not been established by the department.
Police say they will notify the public if the investigation identifies an immediate threat to safety. Until then, the case remains what HPD says it is: an unattended death with the manner still undetermined.
The next official steps are likely to matter more than the label of the unit handling the case. The medical examiner’s final findings can establish cause and manner of death, while police interviews and video could clarify the sequence of events inside and around the hotel. Those findings will determine whether the family’s suspicions, an accidental fall or another explanation is supported by evidence.
