Hawaii island police are asking witnesses to come forward to assist in the nearly 15-month-long investigation into the death of a 43-year-old mother of two from Washington state whose body was found near Anaehoomalu Bay in South Kohala.
Smriti Saxena’s body was found at about 7:30 a.m. Feb. 19, 2020, about eight hours after her husband of 17 years, Sonam Saxena, called 911 from the couple’s hotel and reported her missing, according to police.
After her body was recovered, officers arrested her husband on suspicion of second-degree murder.
He was held at the Kealakehe Police Station until he was released after county prosecutors declined to charge him in the case.
Saxena did not reply to messages seeking comment. Police and Hawaii County Prosecuting Attorney Kelden B.A. Waltjen declined comment, citing an ongoing investigation.
At the time his wife went missing, Saxena told West Hawaii Today he last saw her on the shoreline south of Anaehoomalu Bay suffering from an asthma attack before he went back to their room at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort to get her inhaler at about 10 p.m. The couple had been drinking at the Lava Lava Beach Club.
“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,” Saxena, a product manager for Google Cloud in Seattle, told West Hawaii Today. “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.’ I did that. Went to the room, picked up the inhaler, came back, and she was missing.”
Police ask anyone who may have seen or spoken to the Saxenas during this time, or who may have any information about the investigation, to call the Police Department’s nonemergency number at 935-3311 or Detective Sheldon Nakamoto of the Area II Criminal Investigation Section at 326-4646, ext. 228, or via email at Sheldon.nakamoto@hawaiicounty.gov.
