Woman killed as boulder smashes Nu'uanu house
By Vicki Viotti
and Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writers
A 26-year-old woman died shortly before 2 a.m. today in her Nu‘uanu home when a 5-ton boulder fell down the mountain slope and tore through her second-floor bedroom, pinning her beneath it when it came to rest on the home’s ground floor.
The city managing director’s office, where the victim had worked as an administrative assistant to managing director Ben Lee since January, identified her as Dara Rei Onishi. She was the daughter of former city planning director Patrick Onishi.
Dara Onishi, 26, was scheduled to return to Columbia University to pursue a master's degree in education.
Onishi was to return to graduate school at Columbia University in New York to pursue a master’s in education. Co-workers were planning a going away party for next Friday.
“The whole office is grieving right now. It is a huge shock,” said city spokeswoman Carol Costa. “She was one of the brightest most engaging, social women I have ever known. She was a delight to work with.”
Other family members —including Onishi’s father, mother and 23-year-old brother — also were in the house but were uninjured, said Capt. Richard Soo, spokesman for the Honolulu Fire Department.
Family members told officials they were declining public comment on the incident, which was reported to fire dispatchers at 1:50 a.m., at 2527 Henry St. The victim’s house sits against the mountainside, the top house on a long private lane.
Chieh Fu Lu and his wife, Chrysti, who live across that lane and at the bottom of the hill, were awakened by what he described as a “loud rumble, and then a crash.” He thought the noises might have come from a mishap with trash cans.
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“Then I heard the neighbors behind us starting to yell out,” he added. “Not yelling in fear, but just kind of ‘What’s going on?’
The Onishi home on Henry Street in Nu'uanu Valley sits against the mountainside, the top house on a long private lane.
“I went back to sleep thinking, ‘What are they doing?’ That’s when I looked at the clock: 1:42.”
The couple awoke again during the commotion of emergency vehicles arriving. But they decided to stay away from the scene, learning only from a televised report that their young neighbor had died.
“We thought maybe it was a tree,” said Chrysti Lu, wiping away a tear. “And they seemed so calm. I saw them just walking around.”
Soo said the boulder, about 5 feet in diameter, clipped the rear eaves of the home and crashed through the wall, hitting Onishi as she slept.
The boulder tore through the floor, taking Onishi and her bed with it before striking the floor of a family room beneath, next to the home’s carport, Soo said.
“It’s the freakiest thing I’ve ever seen,” Soo said.
Soo said firefighters would trace the boulder’s path down the slope to make sure the hillside where the rock originated was stable.
Firefighters were able to remove Onishi’s body by first removing the shattered bed and other rubble, he said.
Another neighbor, Alma Peter, lives a few houses down Henry Street, also next to the slope, but heard nothing of the incident until emergency workers arrived. She said she couldn’t recall any other boulders tumbling down the hill in the 41 years she’s lived in her home.
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“Usually it happens in Aina Haina, out that way, never down here,” Peter said.
The 5-ton boulder went through a back bedroom and tore through the floor to the room below.
The Lus quietly mourned the loss of a woman with whom they’d enjoyed some friendly exchanges. Chieh Fu Lu said they would chat in passing on the driveway.
“Could you put in your story that they are the nicest people?” he asked, his eyes misting over.
State geologist Glenn Bauer said the land where the boulder came from was not owned by the state. There are several privately owned parcels that stretch from Henry Street up to the top of the ridge line at Pacific Heights, but he did not know who owned the land that produced the boulder, Bauer said.
“If it is not state land, we don’t get involved,” Bauer said. “I would imagine that whomever owns the property would hire an engineering geologist to do an assessment. Someone should hike up there and determine if there is anything else that could come down.”
Falling rocks and boulders are actually quite common, Bauer said. The lava rock mountains erode and tree roots grow into cracks, he said. The roots create pressure on mountains, eventually dislodging rocks.
Without inspecting the site, Bauer could not say what caused the boulder to fall.
“It might have been hanging there for years,” he said.
At Honolulu Hale, city workers were stunned by Onishi’s sudden death. From co-workers to the mayor, they described her as exceptionally kind and caring and someone clearly headed for a bright future.
Mayor Jeremy Harris said he and his wife, Ramona, had known her for years because her father had served in the city administration, from 1995 to 1998.
Harris’ voice broke when he described her.
"When you say the best and the brightest, that’s what she was," he said. "She was so caring, so positive, so kind to everyone."
Harris said that when Onishi was a teenager, she attended bon dances with her family and him and his wife, and that Dara would patiently help him learn the steps.
"It’s just hard to believe that someone so innocent could just be struck down like that,” Harris said. "It’s bizarre, the rock went right through her bedroom."
Managing director Lee said he has known her parents, Patrick and Gayle Onishi, for 30 years.
"She was the most loving, most wonderful person in the office," Lee said. "We’re so sad, so sad that this happened."
A 1994 graduate of Punahou School, Onishi she earned a bachelor’s degree in East Asian Studies from Yale University in 1997. She also is survived by brothers Blaine, 23; and Brady, 30, who lives in California.
Advertiser staff writer Robbie Dingeman contributed to this report.
