Report: Tulsi Gabbard’s Aunt Killed in Brutal Assault

(Zach D Roberts/AP)

The aunt of former Hawaiian congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard was found dead last weekend after she was reportedly stabbed and beaten with a hammer multiple times during a fight with her protégé in Samoa, Spectrum News reported Wednesday.

Dr. Caroline Sinaviana-Gabbard, 78, was found dead May 25 inside the home of award-winning Samoan playwright Papalii Sia Figiel on Vaivase-Uta.

After the brutal attack, Figel, 57, reportedly fled to a friend’s house, upon which she later turned herself in to the police. Police initially booked her on manslaughter charges last Sunday, but the charges were later upgraded to murder after an investigation.

“A hammer is alleged to have been used as well as a small knife that inflicted multiple stab wounds on the deceased,” Samoa Police Commissioner Auapaau Logoitino Filipo said, according to the New York Post. “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.”

Sinavaiana-Gabbard was the older sister of Hawaii State Sen. Mike Gabbard, Tulsi Gabbard’s father.

Mike Gabbard gave a statement explaining how he was very close to his sister growing up and that he was proud of her.

“Caroline was my best friend as a teenager,” Mike Gabbard said in a statement. “She helped me considerably during my rebellious stage of adolescence.

“She got me hooked on reading, so much so that I followed in her footsteps and majored in English at Sonoma State University in California, then returned to our birthplace, American Samoa, where I taught English in high schools and was a faculty member, guidance counselor and dean at the community college for many years. I love her deeply and wish her well as she continues her journey.”

Mike Gabbard went on to state that he forgives the suspect responsible for her death but hopes justice will be served — that they “will be punished to the full extent of the law.”

After Figiel’s arrest, she was moved from Tanumalala Prison to the National Hospital in Moto’otua, where she was put on 24-hour suicide watch, a close friend told KHJ News. Figiel is slated to appear in front of the Samoan Supreme Court on June 10.