The Honolulu Police Department has scheduled an autopsy for today to investigate the death of a 72-year-old woman whose body was found early Tuesday morning in a dumpster at her residence.
The woman’s fiance, an 87-year-old man, reported around 11 p.m. Monday that she had left their apartment at Makee Ailana, 204 Kapahulu Ave., at approximately 8 p.m. and had not returned. Officers filed a miscellaneous public report.
Just after 2 a.m. Tuesday the man called 911 to report that his fiancee had still not come home. Officers responded and conducted a thorough search of the area, ultimately locating her body in the apartment building’s residential trash room inside a dumpster.
Honolulu Emergency Medical Services pronounced her dead at the scene.
A resident, who declined to be identified, said the woman and her fiance were from Canada and rented a unit on the 10th floor. He added that the trash chute for the floor is “right outside their unit.”
“The fiance apparently called the police around midnight to report that she went missing around 8 o’clock,” he said.
The resident noted that all available surveillance footage, including cameras in the elevators and outside the building, has been reviewed. However, there are no cameras covering the walkways leading to the trash chute on each floor.
The available footage showed that the woman did not leave the premises on her own or wander off to place herself in the dumpster, nor did it show anyone carrying her into the dumpster, the resident said. The resident explained that the only way to access the dumpster without being seen on the cameras is through the trash chute.
He described the woman’s body as small and said it could fit into the chute. He also was informed that the body landed in the center of the dumpster, where someone would land if they were tossed down the chute.
“I saw her body in the bag after they had wrapped her up. She wasn’t in pieces,” he said. “No blood.”
The resident said the couple seemed fine and that he is unaware of any relationship issues they might have had, as well as whether mental illnesses like dementia or Alzheimer’s were a factor.
The fiance is still living in the building, according to the resident.
HPD, which has the case classified as an unattended death, reported that the investigation is still underway.
