HomeMy WebLinkAboutNR1-20-17KPD_UPDATE
C O U NT Y O F KAU A‘I
BERNARD P. CARVALHO, JR.
Mayor
WALLACE G. REZENTES, JR.
Managing Director
KAUA‘I POLICE DEPARTMENT
News Release
For Immediate Release: January 20, 2017
DARRYL PERRY, CHIEF
Tel (808) 241-1600
Fax (808) 241-1604
Police identify female body located in waters off Na Pali Coast
KALALAU – Police have identified the body of a woman who was found Wednesday
afternoon in waters off the Na Pali Coast as Ramona van Schendel, age 39, of the Netherlands.
“We are very grateful to our community for their care and concern,” stated Kaua‘i Police
Chief Darryl Perry. “We received numerous calls, emails and tips in response to our request for
assistance, which helped us to identify this woman and notify her family. I join the rest of our
Kaua‘i community in sending her loved ones our deepest aloha.”
According to police, bystanders were riding a jet ski in waters off the Kalalau Trail at
around 2:50 p.m., when they noticed a woman’s unresponsive body floating in the water roughly
20 feet from a rocky shoreline. The bystanders transported her body to lifeguards at Kē‘ē Beach
where she was presumed dead upon arrival.
Police believe the woman was hiking along the Kalalau Trail when she fell down a cliff, in
an area known as Space Rock, roughly three miles from the Kē‘ē Beach trailhead. An autopsy
revealed that the woman’s cause of death was blunt force trauma, consistent with a fall from a
height.
Detectives and officers from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources
(DLNR) hiked into the trail on Friday and located the area where they believe the woman lost
her footing. They also recovered her personal belongings, including identification.
Investigators confirmed with DLNR’s Division of State Parks that the woman had
obtained a permit to camp in the valley.
Foul play is not a suspected factor in the cause of her death.
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