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

[squareandrabbet]

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.

As to your last paragraph, I can't swear to it, but I should think that after being married for 18 years the husband knew other methods of solving Smriti's problem than trekking an hour and a half round trip to get her inhaler.

I mean, that just sounds SUPER implausible, IMO. Maybe there are some people who have really mild asthma attacks, but... I certainly promise that my father has lots of information on how to help out my mother, a Type 1 diabetic since childhood, if she is anywhere near going into diabetic shock, for example.

 

[MichelleBlue]

Big Island police release Washington visitor arrested for wife’s murder

Not sure if this new development has been shared.

 

[PayrollNerd]

Big Island police release Washington visitor arrested for wife’s murder

Not sure if this new development has been shared.

Color me confused... she was found on the shoreline? I thought he couldn’t find her when he returned? Is there a definition of shoreline I’m misunderstanding??

Sonam Saxena, of Bellevue, Wash., was arrested Wednesday after authorities found his wife’s body on the shoreline near Anaehoomalu Bay.

 

[azure]

Color me confused... she was found on the shoreline? I thought he couldn’t find her when he returned? Is there a definition of shoreline I’m misunderstanding??

Sonam Saxena, of Bellevue, Wash., was arrested Wednesday after authorities found his wife’s body on the shoreline near Anaehoomalu Bay.

I take it to mean that her body washed back ashore after entering the water somehow.

 

[realanastasia]

I take it to mean that her body washed back ashore after entering the water somehow.

IMO she passed out on the sand close enough to the water that she drowned when the waves broke and water rushed up onto the shore.

 

[Tracee27]

As to your last paragraph, I can't swear to it, but I should think that after being married for 18 years the husband knew other methods of solving Smriti's problem than trekking an hour and a half round trip to get her inhaler.

I mean, that just sounds SUPER implausible, IMO. Maybe there are some people who have really mild asthma attacks, but... I certainly promise that my father has lots of information on how to help out my mother, a Type 1 diabetic since childhood, if she is anywhere near going into diabetic shock, for example.

I can’t speak for her and how this particular attack came on. As someone with asthma and children with asthma there really isn’t any other way to treat it. Yes you can stop the activity you’re doing to try to catch your breath but it may help one time and not the next. You take your inhaler and hope thats enough. Some people have a nebulizer (the breathing treatment machine) at home for treatments (we do). I have taken my inhaler, moved to the nebulizer, and still ended up in the er because I couldn’t breathe. I have sent my husband home to grab my inhaler when I needed it but forgot it because we were just running out. I don’t know what her triggers are for an attack but different pollens or different environments have triggered myself or my kids. So I’m not saying he didn’t have anything to do with her death but I can understand that she could have sent him back to the resort for her meds. Honestly I could see myself doing the same thing - I’ll wait her you get my inhaler then I can make the walk back.

 

[Kiva]

IMO she passed out on the sand close enough to the water that she drowned when the waves broke and water rushed up onto the shore.

If she drowned, there would be water in her lungs and they would be able to establish the cause of death quickly. However, in the MSM article up in this thread it was mentioned that they need to run additional tests to determine how she died. Therefore I doubt that she drowned.

 

[evilwise]

Probably a combination of factors. Hypoxia leading to irrational actions leading to a fall leading to unconsciousness leading to suffocation leading to immersion. It's a real shame for this very youthful looking lady and so awful for her family, especially with her husband being arrested on suspicion.

I found it interesting that a Hawaiian sleuth told us that it's not uncommon there to prevent persons of interest from leaving the state but that does seem like something that happens a lot with people being on vacation.

As someone about her age that has the occasional asthma attack it's also quite sobering.

 

[musicaljoke]

Probably a combination of factors. Hypoxia leading to irrational actions leading to a fall leading to unconsciousness leading to suffocation leading to immersion. It's a real shame for this very youthful looking lady and so awful for her family, especially with her husband being arrested on suspicion.

I found it interesting that a Hawaiian sleuth told us that it's not uncommon there to prevent persons of interest from leaving the state but that does seem like something that happens a lot with people being on vacation.

As someone about her age that has the occasional asthma attack it's also quite sobering.

If she fell unconscious on the beach, could she have been caught by the incoming tide?
tide predictions: Kailua Kona, Hawaii Island, Hawaii

 

[evilwise]

If she fell unconscious on the beach, could she have been caught by the incoming tide?
tide predictions: Kailua Kona, Hawaii Island, Hawaii

That's what I was visualizing, one possible scenario that might make determining cause of death more difficult would be suffocating on wet sand and then the tide pulling the body out. One thing that people love to believe is that if someone is found in water but they don't have water in their lungs is that it's automatically a homicide but there are a number of accidental and even natural causes that might explain it and I suspect this is one of those cases.

 

[Via Marple]

Excuse me... I am not a local so have to use a Google product

(Can't upload a <5mb file?)

It would take about 10 minutes to walk from A Beach to Marriot, using the paved path and road, as advised by Google Maps. If using the tracks to reach Marriot from the back, it might be faster.

Why did it take him so long? I guess the wife would expect a short walk too.

The beach looks narrow in satellite view, so it is not hard to imagine accidentally falling into the waters.

 

[jbennett]

Why did it take him so long?

It’s actually not as simple as google makes it seem. While in distance it should only take about 10 mins to walk, it’s more like a 20 min walk if you’re moving quickly from where they were to the Marriott property. Also, this area would be very dark that time of night and the beach walk is difficult to navigate because you wouldn't be able to see. Depending on where their room was at the Marriott it could take another 15 mins just to walk to their room because it is so spread out and huge. I posted some info and pics at the beginning of the thread from my experience when I was at this location and walked this same route.

 

[asmi106082]

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

I have severe asthma and there were many times in the past that my rescue inhaler simply stopped working for me. I was uninsured and the inhalers that prevent and control asthma symptoms (i.e. Advair, Symbicort) were extremely expensive at that time. I couldn’t afford them. I still had my albuterol (rescue inhaler) but after a while my airways would become too restricted to even get the medication into my lungs. It always ended in a hospital stay.
Anyway, I just wanted to throw in my personal experience. I’m now on an injection every 2 weeks, and I use two preventative inhalers each day.
I still ALWAYS CARRY MY RESCUE INHALER. If I leave my purse at home, I will always have my inhaler in my pocket. If I go out in a dress and heels, aka no pockets, I ask my hubby to put my inhaler in his pocket. JME.

 

[evilwise]

I have mild asthma and I basically never bring an inhaler with me. I bring one on vacation with me but I don't think I've ever brought it to the beach even once. The only time I've ever felt like I was in trouble was one spring when there was some kind of new allergen in the air and it's quite possible in this case there was some sort of pollen she was especially allergic to that she'd never encountered before although personally I breathe sea air much more easily.

 

[unknown402]

Everyone here is convincing me more and more that the couple just made a careless and possibly drunken mistake that cost her her life I just wonder why not call a taxi to pick them up if they planned to go home after since she was unwell...Or why not drive it to her, unless he was intoxicated and trying to be a law abiding citizen. I guess no one who has asthma thinks it will take their life.

I don’t have asthma, and as one user pointed out to me it would be impossible to call 911. But what I don’t get if you are too short of breath to call 911, how do you drop everything and move somewhere where people have to look for you. I don’t understand how your body would have enough oxygen to move that far. But stranger things have happened.

Prayers and love for her loved ones. She will be forever missed by them no matter how she went...


Edited to fix poor grammar

 

[Tracee27]

Everyone here is convincing me more and more that the couple just made a careless and possibly drunken mistake that cost her her life I just wonder why not call a taxi to pick them up if they planned to go home after since she was unwell...Or why not drive it to her, unless he was intoxicated and trying to be a law abiding citizen. I guess no one who has asthma thinks it will take their life.

I don’t have asthma, and as one user pointed out to me it would be impossible to call 911. But what I don’t get if you are too short of breath to call 911, how do you drop everything and move somewhere where people have to look for you. I don’t understand how your body would have enough oxygen to move that far. But stranger things have happened.

Prayers and love for her loved ones. She will be forever missed by them no matter how she went...


Edited to fix poor grammar

 

[Tracee27]

To speak from my experience we left without an inhaler All The Time! I’ve had asthma since I was 4 so it’s not new to me. The thing is even though I’m always a person with asthma, I’m not always having an asthma attack. So most of the time I’m breathing normal and not thinking about it. An attack doesn’t always follow the same intensity or speed. Sometimes it’s a slight tightness and two puffs of the inhaler clear it up and it’s over. Other times it’s like an elephant fell on my chest and no matter how hard I try I can not expand my lungs enough to get oxygen and I’m at the ER doing breathing treatments. Most asthmatics know it could kill them but the meds usually work. I take my inhaler out of my purse while looking for something or using it and forget to put it back all the time. Enough that I now got one to keep in the glove box of my car so I don’t have to worry about forgetting and maybe pull it out twice a year to use. Again I don’t know her specific needs or triggers. Do the people around say she always had her inhaler with her? Had to take it multiple times a day? Or did she have occasional attack and only used it as needed?

 

[Curiousobserver]

To speak from my experience we left without an inhaler All The Time! I’ve had asthma since I was 4 so it’s not new to me. The thing is even though I’m always a person with asthma, I’m not always having an asthma attack. So most of the time I’m breathing normal and not thinking about it. An attack doesn’t always follow the same intensity or speed. Sometimes it’s a slight tightness and two puffs of the inhaler clear it up and it’s over. Other times it’s like an elephant fell on my chest and no matter how hard I try I can not expand my lungs enough to get oxygen and I’m at the ER doing breathing treatments. Most asthmatics know it could kill them but the meds usually work. I take my inhaler out of my purse while looking for something or using it and forget to put it back all the time. Enough that I now got one to keep in the glove box of my car so I don’t have to worry about forgetting and maybe pull it out twice a year to use. Again I don’t know her specific needs or triggers. Do the people around say she always had her inhaler with her? Had to take it multiple times a day? Or did she have occasional attack and only used it as needed?

My daughter is the same way- she has very mild asthma, very infrequent and very mild attacks, but she does have an inhaler.

She has it in the house, and she very often leaves without it. She has one in her dorm room, but I would bet if I asked her right now it isn't with her.

In the absence of more evidence from the ME indicating another cause of death this man's story is actually very plausible to me.

 

[bflocket]

...suffocating on wet sand and then the tide pulling the body out.

That made me think of something... It was a long time ago (a couple months before 9/11), but I’ve been on the Big Island. Something about the trip really surprised me. Since there’s been more recent volcanic activity, there was no sand on the beach. At least where we stayed. It was like walking on a bunch of little pieces of broken glass. So we basically got a trip to Hawaii without the beach.

I actually don’t even remember where we stayed, just that going down to the beach was too painful to bother going. But I noticed that many of the resorts in Kona proper had brought in sand from somewhere else so that people could more easily get near the water.

Was the area they were in one of the places with sand? Does anybody know?

 

[musicaljoke]

I have severe asthma and there were many times in the past that my rescue inhaler simply stopped working for me. I was uninsured and the inhalers that prevent and control asthma symptoms (i.e. Advair, Symbicort) were extremely expensive at that time. I couldn’t afford them. I still had my albuterol (rescue inhaler) but after a while my airways would become too restricted to even get the medication into my lungs. It always ended in a hospital stay.
Anyway, I just wanted to throw in my personal experience. I’m now on an injection every 2 weeks, and I use two preventative inhalers each day.
I still ALWAYS CARRY MY RESCUE INHALER. If I leave my purse at home, I will always have my inhaler in my pocket. If I go out in a dress and heels, aka no pockets, I ask my hubby to put my inhaler in his pocket. JME.

Gosh, you certainly live with a challenge. Pardon me for asking, but would you go for a beach walk late at night, 20 minutes from your room? I think that if I had severe asthma, I would be concerned about walking someplace that might have unknown and unseen risks.