Found Deceased HI - Smriti Saxena, 41, asthma attack, husband left to get inhaler, Big Island, 18 Feb 2020 *arrest*

[lucky181]

"An autopsy was conducted and further testing is needed to determine the exact cause of death.

Today, Friday (February 21) at 1:20 p.m., after conferring with prosecutors, Sonam Saxena was released pending investigation. Detectives with the Area II Criminal Investigation Section are continuing this investigation."

02-21-20 Police release murder suspect pending further investigation (Update)

 

[zecats]

"An autopsy was conducted and further testing is needed to determine the exact cause of death.

Today, Friday (February 21) at 1:20 p.m., after conferring with prosecutors, Sonam Saxena was released pending investigation. Detectives with the Area II Criminal Investigation Section are continuing this investigation."

02-21-20 Police release murder suspect pending further investigation (Update)

I presume this indicates now she has been officially identified as the victim found on the beach. What cause of death would be linked to second degree murder? Curious.

 

[Laughing]

I presume this indicates now she has been officially identified as the victim found on the beach. What cause of death would be linked to second degree murder? Curious.

Um, leaving her to die instead of calling 911 like a responsible adult???

JMHO YMMV

 

[dms]

Um, leaving her to die instead of calling 911 like a responsible adult???

JMHO YMMV

YMMV indeed, but could that actually be the case?

 

[realanastasia]

YMMV indeed, but could that actually be the case?

I presume this indicates now she has been officially identified as the victim found on the beach. What cause of death would be linked to second degree murder? Curious.

I asked this yesterday and another WSer kindly responded:

Yes. "Extreme Indifference to Human Life" is one of the classifications for 2nd degree murder charges, essentially negligent homicide. Hypothetically, it is possible that the deceased did simply die as a consequence of being unattended during an asthma attack. In this hypothesis it is also possible that there is a reasonable expectation that an average person in the spouse's position would have known that leaving her unattended would have resulted in death and that there were appropriate actions a reasonable person in the same scenario could have taken to prevent that death which this person did not take.

 

[unknown402]

Do we actually think she had an asthma attack though? Apparently she had her phone. SHE could have called 911. Nothing was stopping her if she truly thought the attack was getting worse.
Also if the attack got worse suddenly I can’t imagine how she’d drop all her belongings and run off somewhere to die.

 

[pukasonqo2]

Do we actually think she had an asthma attack though? Apparently she had her phone. SHE could have called 911. Nothing was stopping her if she truly thought the attack was getting worse.
Also if the attack got worse suddenly I can’t imagine how she’d drop all her belongings and run off somewhere to die.

Are you asthmatic? Depending on the severity of the attack she might not be able to talk or think coherently as the only think your brain is concentrating is in getting oxygen, you are to breathless to speak, panic can set it, your chest tightens and you might be coughing and spluttering while continue to try to breathe
Try to make a phone call in such a state

 

[zecats]

Are you asthmatic? Depending on the severity of the attack she might not be able to talk or think coherently as the only think your brain is concentrating is in getting oxygen, you are to breathless to speak, panic can set it, your chest tightens and you might be coughing and spluttering while continue to try to breathe
Try to make a phone call in such a state

Actually it's not difficult to call 911. You don't need to be able to speak. iPhones have side buttons that you can push and I'm sure Android phones do as well. 911 can track your location even if you're not saying anything. She should have been able to call for help. (If there is service on that beach, of course.) I also don't get why 911 wasn't called before he even left so help could have come to them.. JMO

 

[Vail]

I think it is more likely she has died of a medical condition vs being murdered as it sounds like she has no obvious trauma. Our medical issues are our own responsibilities as adults IMO, excepting those that need bonafide caregivers. I am prone to absence seizures and would never want blame put on my husband or a friend that doesn't know what to do if I were to have one and die - what the hell could he do to save me? I think it is totally irresponsible for the police and media to have reported on the husband's arrest the way they did - if it turns out there is 0 evidence of murder (which, at this time, none has been reported by this apparently very transparent LE), they have potentially ruined his career and reputation by insinuating he murdered her.

Do we actually think she had an asthma attack though? Apparently she had her phone. SHE could have called 911. Nothing was stopping her if she truly thought the attack was getting worse.
Also if the attack got worse suddenly I can’t imagine how she’d drop all her belongings and run off somewhere to die.

They reportedly aren't able to tell her COD without more testing. She wasn't beaten, raped, shot, stabbed or strangled if that s to be believed. An asthma attack is exactly the kind of thing they'd need more time to confirm if it appears she asphyxiated with no apparent external cause.

“She got an asthma attack right there on the beach and she was feeling weak and she didn’t want to walk all the way back because it’s almost a 20-minute walk back from that beach to our room,” Sonam Saxena told the paper. “So, I said, ‘Hey, you know what? You stay here, you have your phone with you and I’ll just go to the room grab your inhaler and pump and come back.'” IMO this is a reasonable unfolding of events. He is not putting words in her mouth or telling us what she said or victim blaming her in any way - she had her phone with her and it was her responsibility to have her inhaler with her. I personally think he has way too much at stake to have killed her, even in the heat of the moment. I refuse to throw hubs under the bus until they can produce evidence he actually killed her - this is one where I get why its suspicious, but I'd rather err on the side of innocent till proven guilty.

 

[zecats]

I think it is more likely she has died of a medical condition vs being murdered as it sounds like she has no obvious trauma. Our medical issues are our own responsibilities as adults IMO, excepting those that need bonafide caregivers. I am prone to absence seizures and would never want blame put on my husband or a friend that doesn't know what to do if I were to have one and die - what the hell could he do to save me? I think it is totally irresponsible for the police and media to have reported on the husband's arrest the way they did - if it turns out there is 0 evidence of murder (which, at this time, none has been reported by this apparently very transparent LE), they have potentially ruined his career and reputation by insinuating he murdered her.



They apparently aren't able to tell her COD without more testing. She wasn't beaten, raped, shot, stabbed or strangled if that s to be believed. An asthma attack is exactly the kind of thing they'd need more time to confirm if it appears she asphyxiated with no apparent external cause.

“She got an asthma attack right there on the beach and she was feeling weak and she didn’t want to walk all the way back because it’s almost a 20-minute walk back from that beach to our room,” Sonam Saxena told the paper. “So, I said, ‘Hey, you know what? You stay here, you have your phone with you and I’ll just go to the room grab your inhaler and pump and come back.'” IMO this is a reasonable unfolding of events. He is not putting words in her mouth or telling us what she said or victim blaming her in any way - she had her phone with her and it was her responsibility to have her inhaler with her. I personally think he has way too much at stake to have killed her, even in the heat of the moment. I refuse to throw hubs under the bus until they can produce evidence he actually killed her - this is one where its fine if I'm wrong, but I'd rather err on the side of innocent till proven guilty.

You are spot on. I rolled with the whole thing because of the arrest and the statement about second degree murder. I don’t understand why that even went down that way if she died from an asthma attack. Why that would be called second degree murder and why he would be arrested without other evidence is confusing. Second degree murder is much more serious if a charge than that. And if they wanted to keep him in Hawaii just ask him to remain. Waiting to hear more one way or the other. JMO

 

[Curiousobserver]

Um, leaving her to die instead of calling 911 like a responsible adult???

JMHO YMMV

I think a person without medical training might not be able to understand the gravity of the situation or how quickly the attack could progress. If it is the case that she died of a medical condition (Asthma) then I would be hard-pressed as a juror to vote to convict this man for not knowing exactly what he should have done. In hindsight he should have called 911 but that seems obvious to us because we have information he didn't have at the time; we know she was going to die and he didn't.

Waiting for more details.

 

[realanastasia]

I think a person without medical training might not be able to understand the gravity of the situation or how quickly the attack could progress. If it is the case that she died of a medical condition (Asthma) then I would be hard-pressed as a juror to vote to convict this man for not knowing exactly what he should have done. In hindsight he should have called 911 but that seems obvious to us because we have information he didn't have at the time; we know she was going to die and he didn't.

Waiting for more details.

Well, they had been married 17 years, so I would probably hold him to a higher standard—vis-a-vis knowing the severity/potential consequences of his spouse’s medical condition(s)—than I would a stranger or even a short-term acquaintance who could plausibly have zero idea that the stricken person even suffered from asthma, let alone how to respond...
I wonder if she passed out due to her asthma attack and somehow fell into the water or collapsed on the sand close enough to the water that she might’ve been covered incoming waves—IMO that would explain LE’s suspicion of SS for foul play, and would be supported if SS’s COD is drowning.

 

[musicaljoke]

I think a person without medical training might not be able to understand the gravity of the situation or how quickly the attack could progress. If it is the case that she died of a medical condition (Asthma) then I would be hard-pressed as a juror to vote to convict this man for not knowing exactly what he should have done. In hindsight he should have called 911 but that seems obvious to us because we have information he didn't have at the time; we know she was going to die and he didn't.

Waiting for more details.

Yes, I'm thinking along the same lines as you. Perhaps he thought it would be faster for him to go back and get her puffer than it would be for 911 to respond with a puffer. Maybe he thought she needed her own special puffer and that none other would do. Who knows what he might have thought. Some people are just reluctant to call 911, especially in a strange place.

But he was arrested so quickly; was there obvious trauma that doesn't line up with the need for a puffer and that pointed directly to him? If not, then this tragedy is made worse by arresting the father when the children needed him.

 

[Herat]

How many of you with asthma have gone out for the evening without bringing your inhaler?

 

[muggles63]

How many of you with asthma have gone out for the evening without bringing your inhaler?

I went out this morning and forgot my inhaler, even worse, I am fighting a chest infection. I realised when I got to town, I thought of this case when I realised and decided to do what I had to do and hope everything would be okay, which it was. It can happen, if I had a problem I would have gone to the nearest Chemist as they will dispense one if you need one here.

 

[squareandrabbet]

How many of you with asthma have gone out for the evening without bringing your inhaler?

Question #2: while assuredly there are different degrees of asthma, wouldn't it be a better idea in the short term to go back to the source of the libations, and ask for a really strong "to-go" coffee?

 

[TTF14]

Question #2: while assuredly there are different degrees of asthma, wouldn't it be a better idea in the short term to go back to the source of the libations, and ask for a really strong "to-go" coffee?

Huh? Coffee helps an asthma attack?

 

[squareandrabbet]

Huh? Coffee helps an asthma attack?

In an emergency, yes:

AAFA Explains: Will Coffee or Caffeinated Drinks Help My Asthma?

I've heard of people using it to stop emergency attacks until they can get to their inhalers. (Source: Very good friend in college was asthmatic. I heard a lot about the topic from her.)

 

[TTF14]

In an emergency, yes:

AAFA Explains: Will Coffee or Caffeinated Drinks Help My Asthma?

I've heard of people using it to stop emergency attacks until they can get to their inhalers. (Source: Very good friend in college was asthmatic. I heard a lot about the topic from her.)

Wow, I never knew this! I have no experience with asthma, clearly .

 

[unknown402]

They reportedly aren't able to tell her COD without more testing. She wasn't beaten, raped, shot, stabbed or strangled if that s to be believed.

Did it ever say they couldn’t determine a COD? It’s my understanding that not being able to tell/not being able to release a COD are two different things. The woman had just passed and family needs to be notified. How horrific would it be to find out your mother died in this manner on a news article.

But I would be interested to see the contents of her phone. If I were to leave my girlfriend on a beach alone in an area neither of us were local to while she was in the middle of a medical episode and I was gone for 50 minutes...i would have been texting her constant updates and I would have been needing her to reply. I can’t get my head around leaving someone in a medical situation/emergency for 50 minutes and making no efforts to see how they were doing. If he was seeing how she was doing and she stopped replying at 20 minutes...he should have called someone

If someone better versed in the law than me could explain one other question...say the husbands story was true and he truly left this woman he was in love with alone on the beach and she passed away of this asthma attack. How could he be charged with anything more than involuntary man slaughter? My understanding is that second degree murder is still an intentional act of murder, just not premeditated. I thought manslaughter was when someone died due to your actions but without malice.