DPS probes the deaths of two men whose bodies were found at sea

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — While the Department of Public Safety (DPS) is investigating the incident where bodies of two men were found floating at sea in Amouli last Monday evening, Sept. 28th, a witness who was with them earlier told Samoa News that the two were drinking beer with him before they were found dead at sea.

The witness is the Amouli pulenuu, Lemalie Salu, who was also the person who found the bodies of the two men found floating at sea. The two were identified as Alofa Christian Togia of Aoa and Junior Toleafoa of Amouli.

The initial report regarding this incident when it first surfaced last week stated that the two men lost their lives while net fishing in Amouli last Monday evening. They were described by family members as avid fishermen and good swimmers.

Two days after the incident Samoa News interviewed the Amouli pulenuu (mayor) as well as several village residents who claimed they observed both victims and the Amouli pulenuu, Lemalie Salu hanging out at the pulenu’u’s home around 5 p.m where they were drinking in front of the house.

INTERVIEW WITH THE PULENU’U

When Samoa News interview the pulenu’u at his home, he confirmed that there was a drinking session at his home with Alofa and Junior before the two left to go net fishing. He also said that he was the last person to see them before they went fishing and also he is the person who found their bodies floating at sea.

According to the pulenuu, Alofa called him and asked if he (Alofa) could come to his house to hang out a little bit before he and Junior went fishing. Village Mayor Salu said he told Alofa, “That is a good plan brother.”

He said that Junior was the first to arrive before Alofa turned up with a bottle of beer. He said that it was Junior who bought beer for them that afternoon. But according to a female witness, she was the one who bought beer and cigarettes for the three men.

The mayor said it was around 7 p.m when Alofa and Junior decided to go fishing but he advised them to wait a little bit for the tide to get lower because it was still high tide. However, when he went to the road to check on Alofa and Junior, another male individual told him that the two men had already gone fishing.

He said he tried to see if he could see their lights because he wanted to join his “brothers” but he didn’t see any lights.

About one hour after Alofa and Junior went fishing, the mayor decided to go fishing too. He went where they usually go fishing but he didn’t see Alofa and Junior, and he figured maybe they had already gone home.

While he was fishing, he got stung by a jellyfish causing red marks on his shoulder. That’s when he decided to come back home because he was not feeling stable at that time.

While he was making his way back to the shore, he was shocked to find Alofa’s body floating in the water. The pulenuu said the body looked purple and to him that was a sign Alofa’s body had been floating for a long time.

When Samoa News asked the mayor what his first thought was, he said it was the memory of his father who had also died in the ocean — he was also the first person who found his father’s body.

According to the mayor, he pulled Alofa’s body to the shore. He said that it was really hard for him to pull Alofa’s body back to the shore because it was low tide and the reef was almost entirely exposed.

Salu further stated that he had tried to perform CPR on Alofa when he first found his body but the condition of the area among coral reefs made it hard. When he got Alofa’s body to shore, he called his brother to perform CPR while he went to his house and instructed his younger brother to call 911.

The pulenu’u said he then went back to sea to look for Junior’s body. It was around 10 p.m when he found Junior’s body floating far down from the location where he found Alofa’s body.

Sale confirmed to Samoa News that he was the first person to find Junior’s body.

When asked about why he didn’t seek help from the village Aumaga to assist him in searching for Junior, he replied, “Like I said, these two men are like brothers to me and I wanted to be the first one to find them.”

When Samoa News asked why he thought Junior was dead too, he said, “After I found Alofa’s body, that’s when I knew that Junior was also dead and I needed to find him.”

He said he found Junior’s body around 10 p.m. and both bodies were transported to the LBJ Hospital by EMS personnel around 11p.m.

Alofa’s family told Samoa News that a tag on Alofa’s body states that the body arrived at 10:34p.m. at LBJ.

Samoa News asked the mayor how he got all the big scratches on his cheek and legs and he replied, “It was during the time when I pulled Alofa’s body back to shore by myself because the reef were entirely exposed and it was really hard for me to pull Alofa’s body back to shore.” The mayor added that Alofa also sustained scratches on his whole body because of the reef.

The pulenu’u’s statement contradicts statements by family members of the two victims who told Samoa News that both Alofa and Junior sustained serious head injuries without a single scratch on their bodies.

The mayor kept mentioning that he was the only one who went looking for the two men, however, after being questioned several times by Samoa News about the reason why he didn’t seek assistance from the village Aumaga, the mayor changed his story. This time he said he and several other male individuals came to the rescue.

The “other males” the mayor was referring to included two police officers.

OTHER WITNESSES

Sources from Amouli told Samoa News that Salu was the first person who went fishing, not Alofa and Junior.

Others said that the two men were last seen casting their net close to shore while it was still daylight Monday night. One resident said that on Monday evening the reef was almost entirely exposed during low tide and it was a shock to learn that the two men had drowned.

Samoa News understands that DPS investigation into this matter is still ongoing and families of both victims are waiting for an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

(Read Samoa News follow up story on this matter in our next publication, which will include interviews from families of both victims and reports about injuries both victims had sustained when their bodies were discovered.)