Elderly women’s death not a hit and run, but it appears “strange”

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The Department of Public Safety has ruled out the element of “hit and run” in the case of an elderly woman, found dead in Kokoland earlier this month.

This was confirmed by Chief of Police, Pouu’amea Supapo in response to questions from Samoa News.

 “The woman died of a heart attack and this was confirmed by the hospital on the day of the incident, but there are strange marks on her body,” said CoP Supapo.

 “We are treating this as a homicide until evidence presents otherwise as there are lacerations on her forehead and arms and at the moment the body is held by the Department of Public Safety until we complete our investigation, which is conducted by the Criminal Investigation Division.”

Asked about reports from detectives this case is a possibly a “hit and run”, Supapo said the marks on the woman’s body may suggest that, but the hospital issued their ruling on the cause of death which is a heart attack.

“There are also bite marks on her body,” said the CoP.

Adding there are many scenarios that come into play given the marks on the woman’s body.

Supapo also confirmed the police had been to Kokoland on Tuesday afternoon at the area of where the woman was found.

The incident occurred the week before White Sunday and to date police have no leads.

However, according to a senior police officer, investigators with Criminal Investigation Division are getting video footage from the various stores around the area for possible information on how this woman died.

The woman lived in Kokoland and was always seen on the main road picking up the trash in the hot sun.