Posted on: Wednesday, November 20, 2002

Couple detained in Kalalau Valley stillbirth case

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

LIHU'E, Kaua'i — The parents of a baby reported to have been stillborn Sunday in Kalalau Valley were arrested by police and charged with abuse of a corpse.

Police released no details, but said the mother and father, both 34 and from Ha'ena, were arrested and placed into custody after the woman was released from Wilcox Hospital.

For a second day yesterday, Kaua'i police detectives and state conservation enforcement officers searched the valley for the baby's body so an autopsy could be performed, said Gordon Isoda, Police Department assistant chief for the Criminal Investigation Division. The father told officials he buried the baby in the valley, according to a county news release.

Authorities were alerted to a problem in the remote valley on Sunday morning, when a passing helicopter spotted an "SOS" marked in the sand at Kalalau Beach. A Fire Department crew arrived by helicopter and evacuated the woman, who was eight months pregnant when she reportedly gave birth early Sunday.

Isoda said he did not know why a woman so close to giving birth would be in the rugged valley, which is a wilderness state park without healthcare facilities or permanent staffing. Land access to Kalalau is by an arduous hike along an 11-mile trail that climbs in and out of valleys along the Na Pali Coast.