A prominent Samoan novelist, poet and playwright murdered a notable Samoan academic and fellow writer who also was former presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard’s aunt, Samoan authorities allege, according to several reports.
Samoan police charged Papalii Sia Figiel, 57, with manslaughter May 26 over the alleged fatal bludgeoning and stabbing of Professor Caroline Sinavaiana Gabbard, 78, the Samoa Observer reported. The police upgraded the charge to murder following the emergence of new details and alleged incriminating evidence, according to the report.
“A hammer is alleged to have been used as well as a small knife that inflicted multiple stab wounds on the deceased,” Samoan Police Service (SPS) Commissioner Auapaau Logoitino Filipo reportedly revealed.
An argument allegedly broke out between Figiel and Gabbard at the GaluMoana Theater in the village of Vaivase-Uta before the alleged murder, according to Spectrum News.
The theater is on Figel’s property, the New Zealand Herald reported. Gabbard was Figiel’s mentor, Hawaii News Now reported. (RELATED: Graduate Student Charged In Murder Of Faculty Adviser Found Unfit For Trial)
“We do not know what the motive is of the offending but from reports the incident occurred on Saturday and the suspect left the deceased at her home while she went out to Lotofaga and spent time with a friend,” Commissioner Auapaau reportedly told The Samoa Observer. “It wasn’t until Sunday morning while having breakfast that she told her friend about what she had done and that led to the matter being reported to the Police.”
“She came with her friend to the Police Station to report it and when Police went to her home to check they found the deceased’s body there,” Auapaau reportedly added.
The alleged murder threw Gabbard’s family and friends into mourning, according to reports.
“I owe Caroline a lot,” Democratic Hawaii State Sen. Mike Gabbard, the deceased’s brother and Tulsi Gabbard‘s father, reportedly told Hawaii News Now. “Caroline, she just always come and take me aside, ‘Mike just calm down. Just, here, why don’t you read this book?’ She got me into reading.”
Caroline Gabbard saved Sen. Gabbard from teenage recklessness, Sen. Gabbard reportedly told Hawaii News Now. “I could have ended up in prison and I was … getting into all kinds of nonsense,” Sen. Gabbard added, according to the outlet. “But she just said ‘Hang in there. Mike. God loves you. Mom and Dad love you. Just stick with it.'”
Sen. Gabbard said he could not even get a call back from the SPS but learned of his sister’s murder via the media, according to the outlet. The family had forgiven the suspect but still wanted justice to be done, Sen. Gabbard told the outlet.
“She was a kindred spirit, a brilliant writer and supporter of writers. A peaceful and calm person,” a friend reportedly told the Samoa Observer. “Someone who did not deserve to die like that. She was a very private person despite being a giant in the literary world.”
Gabbard was born in Utulei village in American Samoa in 1946, according to the Samoa Observer. She studied at Sonoma State University, University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, according to her Facebook page.
Gabbard was the first Samoan to become a full professor in the U.S., according to the Samoa Observer. She taught creative writing and Pacific literature for about 20 years and was an environmental activist.
Gabbard would be cremated and her ashes scattered in the ocean in line with her wishes, Sen. Gabbard reportedly told Hawaii News Now.
The Daily Caller reached out to Tulsi Gabbard and the Samoan Police Service but did not receive a response as of the time of this report.
