Homicide detectives are leading the inquiry into the unexplained death of a Southwest Airlines flight attendant who is believed to have fallen 24 floors from a hotel in Hawaii, while her family says they fear “foul play” may have been involved.
Jenny Lupton, a 50-year-old Oklahoma mother of a teenage son, was in Honolulu on a work layover when she was found last Thursday near a dumpster at the base of the Hilton Hawaiian Village resort. Her injuries indicated she may have fallen from the balcony of her 24th-floor room.
The Honolulu Police Department said Monday that the case is being handled by its specialized Homicide Detail, a unit assigned to murders, suicides, and suspicious or otherwise unexplained deaths.
The squad “is actively investigating the circumstances surrounding her death and is working closely with her family,” the department said.
Police added that “no conclusions have been made regarding the manner of death” at this stage, and officials have not released a precise cause of death.
Lupton’s relatives insist she was not suicidal and believe something more troubling may have occurred.
“We are worried that there is possible foul play involved,” Lupton’s niece, Hannah, told USA Today on Monday.
Hannah’s concerns echo those of Lupton’s sister, Tresa, who has also expressed fear that a sinister circumstance may be behind the flight attendant’s death.
“We strongly believe that she didn’t do this intentionally, and so that leads us to think it was either some kind of freak accident or someone harmed her,” she told KFOR over the weekend.
“I was in disbelief and trying to not believe what I was experiencing. But I still can’t believe it. It doesn’t seem real.”
Gentner Drummond, the Oklahoma Attorney General, called his Hawaiian counterpart to “ensure a proper investigation into Jenny Lupton’s death,” the pol’s office said, stressing her family “deserve to have answers about this tragedy.”
Lupton’s cause of death remains pending, with police warning the investigation “will take time.”
“Detectives are conducting numerous interviews, reviewing and recovering surveillance video, and examining evidence as part of the investigative process,” they said Monday, confirming an unattended death investigation had been launched.
Investigators are in the process of combing through surveillance video from the 70 cameras reportedly near the scene to try to piece together her final moments.
It’s unclear if anyone witnessed the plunge.
Lupton, a Southwest stewardess for 23 years and a mom to a 15-year-old son, Kaleb, messaged her family about a tattoo she was having done, according to her niece, who followed in her footsteps by becoming a flight attendant.
“She had texted the family and told us how, once she got home, we were going to get it colored in, and my mother was going to get the same tattoo with her,” Hannah said, without revealing when the text was sent.
Lupton, an avid gardener who was dubbed the “life of the party,” planned to get a tattoo of a hibiscus to honor her late father.
She had also been out dancing with a colleague and having a “good time” just hours before her death, Tresa said.
Southwest, meanwhile, says it’s “engaged with local authorities as they investigate.”
“We have offered our condolences and support to the employee’s family and coworkers,” an airline spokesperson said.
