A Hawaii judge dropped the second-degree murder charge against the woman accused of killing her identical twin sister by driving their Ford Explorer off a 200-foot cliff.
According to NBC News, Maui Judge Blaine Kobayashi said prosecutors did not present enough evidence to support the charge that Alexandria Duval intentionally caused Anastasia Duval’s death.
Judge Kobayashi ordered the release during Alexandria’s preliminary hearing on Wednesday, June 8.
Police arrested the yoga instructor at her Maui hotel on Friday, June 3, when they discovered she was attempting to flee Hawaii for the West Coast, the New York Daily News reported. She faced a second-degree murder charge for the May 29 crash.
Alexandria’s real name is Alison Dadow, while Anastasia was born Ann Dadow. According to the New York Daily News, they changed their identities after shutting down their co-owned business, Twin Power Yoga, in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. They moved to Hawaii in December from Utah, Alexandria’s defense attorney, Todd Eddins, told the Associated Press.
Witnesses in the area at the time of the accident said they saw Alexandria and Anastasia arguing in their SUV. “I saw a pair of hands jerking the head, pulling the hair,” Lawrence Lau, a chaperone for a Boy Scout troop, told KHON2. “There were hands pulling her head down like this, and her head was jerking.”
While prosecutors are disappointed with Judge Kobayashi’s ruling, Eddins told ABC News that his client was “elated.” “This was a tragic accident,” he said. “It was not a homicide, it was not a crime. This judge understood the evidence, and we’re just grateful that he got it.”
Maui Now reported that Alexandria hopes to be in upstate New York in time to attend her twin’s funeral. “There was another case that she had with her and her sister — another brush with the law — so that case is in the system and we’re trying to work out where that case is resolved so she can go home,” Eddins told Maui Now.
Federico Bailey, Anastasia’s boyfriend of two months, spoke to the Maui News about how the “charismatic” sisters were always fighting. “I tried to bring peace to the situation, just through communicating the Bible and stuff with them,” he said.
He added: “When they drink, their personalities change.”
