Murder charge dropped against twin in Hawaii cliff-plunge death

HONOLULU - A judge has found no probable cause for a murder charge against a woman accused of killing her twin after the car they were riding in plunged off a cliff.

Prosecutors say Alexandria Duval, whose previous name is Alison Dadow, intentionally caused her identical twin's death May 29 when she was behind the wheel of an SUV that plunged off a cliff. Her sister, Anastasia Duval, whose previous name was Ann Dadow, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The judge said that prosecutors did not present enough evidence to support the charge of intentional murder, reports Hawaii News Now.

Witnesses saw the sisters arguing on Maui's Hana Highway, a perilously narrow, twisting route along a scenic stretch of coastline. A witness cleaning a family gravesite on the highway shoulder told police that he heard a woman screaming in the vehicle and that the passenger was pulling the driver's hair and the steering wheel.

The SUV accelerated, made a hard left turn and crashed into a rock wall, then went over the cliff, authorities said. Alexandria, 37, was hospitalized in critical condition but appeared in court Monday with her arm in a sling. She is still behind bars as her attorney tries to bail her out on an unrelated disorderly conduct charge. Her attorney says she wants to travel to upstate New York in time for her sister's funeral.

The twins had recently moved to Hawaii after spending time in Utah, and before that Florida, where they owned a yoga studio in well-to-do Palm Beach Gardens. Brett Borders, a former student of the twins, said they held the best yoga classes he has ever taken.

"They were very good at picking and training yoga instructors. They were very consistent. The best teachers around. It was just very high quality," he said.

The sisters were living large, with fancy cars, before they suddenly closed the studios and bolted town, leaving behind bewildered customers and friends and many debts. Employees and vendors complained they hadn't been paid, and customers' memberships were rendered worthless.

Leslie McMichael, who became the sisters' spiritual adviser after meeting them at a Kabala center in Florida, said their downfall began after they were approached by reality television producers who wanted to feature them on a show.

They had outgrown one of their Palm Beach Gardens studios, but instead of annexing a neighboring storefront as planned, they were persuaded by the producers to lease space on the priciest, trendiest street in West Palm Beach, McMichael said.

They were banking on the TV income to make it work, but then the show fell through and they were stuck with a lease they couldn't afford, she said.

The sisters moved to Utah and opened a yoga studio in the high-end ski town of Park City in 2014. They had several run-ins with the police during the two years they lived in the state, and faced charges including drunken driving, intoxication and leaving the scene of an accident.

In January 2014, they were kicked out of a restaurant when their drinking got out of hand, according to police. Officers said the twins fought with each other and with police who arrived after their car slid into a ditch. Hair-pulling was also involved.

The twins legally changed their names in Utah in 2014 to write a book together, according to court documents. Both women filed for bankruptcy around the same time and reported around $150,000 in debts each, including two 2013 Porsche Boxsters.

Looking for a new start, they moved to Maui in December and planned to open yoga studios, according to Alexandria's attorney. But they were soon charged with disorderly conduct and terroristic threatening over a Christmas Eve incident.

McMichael said their rowdy behavior doesn't tell the twins' full story.

Referring to them by their previous names, she described Alison (later Alexandria) as outgoing with a "big, dominant personality" and a tendency to drink too much sometimes, and called Ann (Anastasia) "the sweetest, kindest, most level-headed person you would ever meet."

McMichael said the pair, whose mother had died when they were 5, always lived together and put their relationship ahead of their boyfriends.

"They realized that love was not in their future because they were so co-dependent," she said. "I would joke that the only people who would understand them were a pair of male twins who would understand that they needed to be together."