Hawai‘i Island police identified 29-year-old Kala‘iokealaula Ashley Nicole Reyes Kanekoa of Kea‘au as the woman who drowned early Sunday morning after falling into the ocean along the shoreline cliffs in the Hawaiian Paradise Park subdivision. On February 18, Puna patrol officers, along with Hawai‘i County Fire Department personnel, responded to the sea cliff area off of Beach Road and Paradise Drive after a 31-year-old Kea‘au man reported that a woman had slipped and fallen into the ocean. He attempted to rescue Kanekoa by throwing out a flotation device, however was unsuccessful as she was pulled out by the ocean’s currents.
Throughout the morning, HFD and Coast Guard personnel conducted an aerial search for Kanekoa and discovered her unresponsive body four miles down shore near Honolulu Landing in Pāhoa. She was transported to Hilo Medical Center where she was pronounced dead. After performing an autopsy, 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 police 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 via email Paul.Mangus@hawaiicounty.gov.
