Honolulu • A woman accused of deliberately driving off a Hawaii cliff and killing her identical twin sister has been acquitted of murder.
A judge found Alexandria Duval not guilty Thursday. Duval opted to have a judge instead of a jury decide the case.
Authorities described the 2016 crash as a hair-pulling fight over the steering wheel. The sisters were seen arguing on the narrow, winding Hana Highway on the island of Maui before their SUV plunged 200 feet over a cliff.
The crash was a tragic accident, Alexandria Duval’s defense attorney, Birney Bervar said in his opening statement.
Authorities said Alexandria 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.
In this May 29, 2016 photo provided by Tom Johnson, rescue workers respond to the scene of a car crash off Mauis Hana Highway in Hana, Hawaii. A Maui woman who was driving the vehicle when it plunged off the cliff is charged with murder in the death of her twin, who was in the passenger's seat. Prosecutors say Alexandria Duval, who is also known as Alison Dadow, intentionally caused the death of her sister, Anastasia Duval, also known as Ann Dadow. The 37-year-old sisters were traveling on Hana Highway when their Ford Explorer crashed into a rock wall last week. Police say the Explorer fell about 200 feet. (Tom Johnson via AP)
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.”
The Duval sisters, born Alison and Ann Dadow in the Utica, New York, area, operated popular yoga studios in Palm Beach County, Fla., from 2008 to 2014 before they changed their names. They moved to Hawaii in December 2015 from Utah.