Woman found not guilty of murder in identical twin sister's cliff death in Hawaii
A judge in Hawaii on Thursday found Alexandria Duval not guilty in the 2016 death of her identical twin sister, who died after falling from a cliff in Maui while Duval was driving. Duval was injured but prosecutors accused her of deliberately driving the car off the cliff during a fight.
Witnesses to the crash testified that Duval had been seen arguing with her twin sister, Anastasia, just moments before their vehicle plunged 200 feet down the side of a cliff along Maui's Hana Highway, CBS affiliate KGMB repots.
Duval opted to have a judge instead of a jury decide the case. The trial started Monday.
Duval's defense attorney, Birney Berva, argued the crash was a tragic accident.
Authorities said Duval was behind the wheel of a Ford Explorer when witnesses saw the sisters arguing on the 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.
Anastasia Duval was in the passenger seat and was killed, and her sister Alexandria Duval was arrested. A judge later ordered Alexandria Duval released after finding no probable cause for a murder charge. She traveled to upstate New York and was arrested months later in Albany after a grand jury indicted her.
Witnesses testified seeing the women arguing on the narrow highway. Duval did not testify.
"I'm disappointed," Maui County Prosecuting Attorney J.D. Kim said after the verdict. "The facts clearly show it was at least reckless behavior."
Duval left the courtroom without commenting, The Maui News reported.
The sisters, born Alison and Ann Dadow in the Utica, New York, area, operated popular yoga studios in Florida before they changed their names. They moved to Hawaii in 2015 from Utah.