Hawaii Judge Finds Woman Not Guilty of Driving off a Cliff and Killing Twin

A woman accused of driving off a cliff in Hawaii and killing her twin sister has been found not guilty.

On Thursday, Feb. 1, Alexandria Duval, 39, was found not guilty of murder by Second Circuit Judge Peter Cahill, the New York Post reports. Her murder trial began Monday after Duval chose to have a judge hear her case instead of a jury.

Duval had been charged with the murder of her twin sister, Anastasia Duval, after a 2016 crash in Hawaii left the woman dead and Duval injured. The twins had been in a Ford Explorer driving along the Hana Highway, a narrow and winding highway that has been deemed treacherous, when a fight between the two began. According to eyewitnesses, the twins had been fighting over control of the steering wheel and Anastasia was seen pulling Alexandria’s hair.

The fight resulted in the car plunging 200 feet over a cliff, killing Anastasia, who was in the passenger seat. Alexandria was arrested following the crash, but later released after no probably cause for murder was found. Months later, a grand jury in Hawaii indicted her and she was arrested in Albany, New York.

According to Alexandria Duval’s defense attorney, the crash had been a tragic accident, though those close to the twin sisters reported that the two had a tumultuous relationship.

Keith Weiss, former boyfriend of Alexandria Duval, revealed that he had witnessed violent conflicts between the two on several occasions while they lived in Flroida, including fights in vehicles that nearly resulted in crashes.

The sisters eventually moved to Utah and began teaching yoga classes, changing their names from Ann Dadow to Alexandria Duval and Alison Dadow to Anastasia Duval. It was there that a former yoga student noticed how off-putting their chemistry was, recalling, “They were teaching at the same time, speaking over one another really fast: ‘Do this, lift your arm, lower your left arm.’ It was honestly one of the most bizarre yoga experiences I had ever had. They were giving instructions that didn’t seem to be making much sense to me and at the same time, they were both assisting me. It was a very unusual experience in the yoga community…I’m sure any regular practitioner or teacher would agree.”

The sisters eventually moved to Hawaii in 2015.