Tulsi Gabbard’s Aunt Allegedly Murdered by Prominent Samoan Author

Accord­ing to a recent report, the aunt of for­mer Demo­c­ra­t­ic Hawaii Con­gress­woman Tul­si Gab­bard was trag­i­cal­ly mur­dered in Samoa last month. 

Car­o­line Sina­viana-Gab­bard, 78, was found dead inside the home of acclaimed Samoan play­wright Papalii Sia Figiel, who was ini­tial­ly arrest­ed for manslaugh­ter but lat­er charged with murder.

The inci­dent occurred on May 25 at Figiel’s home in the vil­lage of Vaivase-Uta, about three miles from the cap­i­tal city of Apia. Sina­viana-Gab­bard, a for­mer pro­fes­sor at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Hawaii in Hon­olu­lu, was report­ed­ly Figiel’s mentor.

“A ham­mer is alleged to have been used as well as a small knife that inflict­ed mul­ti­ple stab wounds on the deceased,” said Smoa Police Com­mis­sion­er Aua­paau Logoiti­no Fil­ipo. The motive behind the bru­tal attack is still unclear.

Sina­viana-Gab­bard was the old­er sis­ter of Hawaii State Sen­a­tor Mike Gab­bard, Tul­si’s father. Mike Gab­bard spoke fond­ly of his close rela­tion­ship with his sis­ter, call­ing her his “best friend” dur­ing his ado­les­cent years.

Figiel, 57, is expect­ed to appear in front of the Supreme Court of Samoa on June 10. The author’s work has been pub­lished in New Zealand and she has won the Best First Book award in the South East Asia/ South Pacif­ic region of the Com­mon­wealth Writ­ers Prize in 1997.

This trag­ic inci­dent has sent shock­waves through the Samoan and Hawai­ian com­mu­ni­ties, and Tul­si Gab­bard’s fam­i­ly is undoubt­ed­ly griev­ing the loss of their beloved aunt. As the inves­ti­ga­tion con­tin­ues, the pub­lic awaits jus­tice for Car­o­line Sina­viana-Gab­bard’s sense­less murder.