When Frances Kauai-Lynch saw a brief TV news item that identified the victim of a July 24 hit-and-run accident in Hale'iwa, she said she was shocked to learn that the dead woman was her cousin.

Kauai-Lynch said she had been out of touch with her cousin, Debra Kalani, since Kalani "dropped out of sight" about eight years ago. Kauai-Lynch said there were rumors about drug use and that Kalani, 46, had become homeless.

Kauai-Lynch said she called the city medical examiner's office to confirm the dead woman's identity and was told that one of Kalani's seven children had been notified of the death. But Kauai-Lynch said Kalani's parents, who are divorced and live on the Mainland, had not been told that their daughter was dead.

Kauai-Lynch said her cousin's family life was so "dysfunctional" that she doesn't think Kalani's oldest daughter, Christine Kauai, knows her mother is dead. She said there have been few follow-up news stories on the hit-and-run death, so people may not have heard the victim's name.

"The only one that I can't get ahold of is Christine and I'm not even sure if she's in a house or if she's homeless herself," Kauai-Lynch said. "I know where at least six of them are and the only one that I can't locate is Christine because the family just fell apart."

Kauai-Lynch is pleading with anyone who may know Christine Kauai, 26, to have her call Kauai-Lynch at 258-6059.

Kalani was killed July 24 when she was struck as she crossed Joseph P. Leong Highway in Hale'iwa. Police said she was standing on the east side of the highway and talking with someone in a car parked on the opposite shoulder and was hit by a pickup truck or SUV as she attempted to cross the road at 2:09 p.m.

The vehicle was described as a Chevrolet or GMC-type pickup or SUV and may have front-end damage and a missing driver's-side mirror. Police said yesterday that there have been no arrests in the case.

Kauai-Lynch said her concern isn't so much that the driver is caught because "it's too late to bring Debra back." Her concern is getting in touch with Christine.

Kauai-Lynch said that Kalani's husband, who is homeless, isn't Christine's biological father and that Christine can't go to her real father for help "because they don't even know who he is."

"I just wanted Christine to know that her mom has passed on because I'm not sure she even knows that," she said. "There's no indication that she's contacted anybody, not the police, not the coroner's office. She seems to have dropped out of sight just like her mother."

Kauai-Lynch said her cousin's death was a very sad ending to a life that was once filled with joy.

"She was always so friendly and she kept everybody in touch with each other, whether you lived on the Mainland or here. She was always calling and keeping the family in touch," she said. "All of a sudden she just stopped — we heard nothing. Her father even asked me to look for her."

In 1972, Kauai-Lynch said, she took Kalani to the Big Island and introduced her to members of their extended family. That sparked an interest in genealogy in Kalani, she said.

But Kauai-Lynch said she had not seen or heard from Kalani until her name was mentioned on TV.

"I was just thrown off," Kauai-Lynch said of the TV report. "I was just shocked when I heard it on the news. But I knew that it was her."

Funeral services for Kalani are pending, Kauai-Lynch said.