Hawai‘i Island police identify woman who drown in Puna over the weekend

Authorities identified a Kea‘au woman who drowned off the Puna coast over the weekend as Kala‘iokealaula Ashley Nicole Reyes Kanekoa.

On Sunday, Kanekoa fell into the ocean along the shoreline cliffs in the Hawaiian Paradise Park subdivision. Hawai‘i Island police responded to the cliffside at 1:59 a.m. off Beach Road and Paradise Drive after a 31-year-old Kea‘au man reported the woman’s fall.

“He attempted to rescue Kanekoa by throwing out a flotation device, however was unsuccessful as she was pulled out by the ocean’s currents,” police stated.

Hawai‘i Fire Department and the U.S. Coast Guard conducted an aerial search for Kanekoa throughout the morning, and at 8 a.m., discovered her unresponsive body four miles downshore near Honolulu Landing in Pāhoa. She was transported to the Hilo Medical Center where she was pronounced dead at 10:58 a.m.

After performing an autopsy on Tuesday, the forensic pathologist ruled that Kanekoa died of an accidental drowning.

Police ask anyone who may have information relative to this case, to call the department’s non-emergency number at 808-935-3311, or Detective Paul Mangus of the Area I Criminal Investigation Section at 808-961-2383 or email Paul.Mangus@hawaiicounty.gov.