Cheerleader's death may remain mystery

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

WAILUKU, Maui — Maui County's medical examiner said yesterday that a coroner's inquest will not be convened to further examine the mysterious death of Lauren Crossan, the 18-year-old New Jersey cheerleader who fell nine stories from a Ka'anapali hotel room.

Lauren Crossan died on Jan. 12 after falling nine stories from a hotel room.

Manou-kian had said he was hoping to subpoena witnesses and question them under oath about the Jan. 12 death, in an attempt to fill in the gaps about how Crossan came to tumble off a balcony at the Hyatt Regency Maui.

But, he said, it became clear yesterday that the inquest process probably wouldn't provide the answers he was seeking.

There are flaws in the coroner's inquest law that undermine the process, he said, including the fact there is only a maximum $25 fine for anyone who ignores a subpoena and that there is no authority to compel anyone from out of state to appear at the formal hearing.

Manoukian said key out-of-state witnesses — including the California men who apparently last saw Crossan alive — are now refusing to talk with police, and it's doubtful they would voluntarily travel here to testify about the matter.

"It just wouldn't be very successful," Manoukian said of the formal hearing.

Meanwhile, the police investigation remains ongoing, said acting Lt. Jamie Becraft of the Maui Police Department. The case remains classified a "miscellaneous accident" for lack of evidence of foul play.

Crossan, a senior at Randolph High School in New Jersey, was on Maui to perform with hundreds of other cheerleaders at the Jan. 17 Hula Bowl. But she died less than 12 hours after arriving on the island Jan. 11.

Her nude body was found below the ninth-floor balcony belonging to a room registered to two California men whom she had met hours earlier. The men, ages 19 and 20, were arrested and questioned by police but were released without charges.

Police said the men told them Crossan was alive when they went to sleep around 1:30 a.m. and they didn't know what happened to her.

Manoukian said the fact that a coroner's inquest will not be held doesn't change the results of the autopsy. He said the report found no apparent sign of foul play, no sign of a struggle or any evidence of sexual assault, and her injuries were consistent with a fall.

Crossan was drunk, however, with a blood-alcohol level of .17 percent — equivalent to being under the influence of eight or nine drinks, he said. There was no evidence she ingested illegal or so-called "date rape" drugs.

Manoukian said Crossan's injuries indicate she hit "an intermediate object," possibly the building, during her fall, suggesting that she slipped and fell straight down rather than was pushed or jumped.

Manoukian said his interest in conducting a coroner's inquest was merely to draw a more complete picture about what happened that night and perhaps to bring a measure of closure to the Crossan family as well as to the legion of media that covered the story.

In any case, police officials do have the power to obtain the extradition of any suspects if some illegal activity is uncovered in their investigation, he said.

Manoukian said he still suspects the woman fell accidentally, a byproduct of her alcohol-impaired condition, which was exacerbated by travel fatigue and inexperience with drinking. He noted there have been other recent cases on Maui in which intoxicated individuals mysteriously fell to their deaths, two of them in daylight.

Reach Timothy Hurley at (808) 244-4808 or thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com.