Tulsi Gabbard’s aunt, Caroline Sinaviana-Gabbard, was killed on May 25th in what appears to have been an argument that turned violent. The suspect in the killing is now being charged with murder.
Papalii Sia Figiel, 57, was arrested Sunday following the death in Samoa of 78-year-old Caroline Sinaviana-Gabbard, a retired former University of Hawaii professor.
The victim was stabbed multiple times and beaten with a hammer, local reports said, citing police. Samoa is a country located in the South Pacific Ocean.
The deadly incident took place on May 25 at Figiel’s home in the village of Vaivase-Uta, which is about three miles from the island nation’s capital city of Apia. Figiel’s property also doubles as the local theater, the New Zealand Herald reports.
An argument had broken out between the pair before the incident turned violent, Samoan Police Commissioner Auapaau Logoitino Filipo said, according to the publication. It is not clear what sparked the argument.
Hawaiian state Senator Mike Gabbard, Tulsi’s uncle, said:
Mike Gabbard said he was very close to his sister growing up and proud of her accomplishments in life.
“Caroline was my best friend as a teenager,” Mike Gabbard said in a statement to Spectrum News.
“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.”
Caroline Sinaviana-Gabbard was a retired professor at the University of Hawaii before retiring to Samoa. She was the first Samoan to become a full professor in an American university, and in August 2020 was included in USAToday’s list of most influential women in the U.S. Territories, along with her niece Tulsi Gabbard.
According to Spectrum News, Sinaviana-Gabbard earned undergraduate degrees in English and psychology from Sonoma State University, a masters’ degree in folklore from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in American studies from the University of Hawaii.
She taught Pacific literature at the University of Hawaii for over 20 years before retiring.
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No family, in any place, is free from the chance of tragedy. It’s difficult to understand how something as commonplace as an argument between two people who evidently have known each other for some time could escalate to this level. The manner of this incident, which I will not repeat, would appear to indicate an uncontrolled rage; it’s hard to imagine there weren’t some warning signs. But, as the late Paul Harvey pointed out, we shouldn’t be able to imagine this kind of thing; as he said, “If you could understand this, we’d have to worry about you.”
Our hearts go out to Tulsi Gabbard and the Gabbard family. May they come through this difficult period together and, in time, come to remember only the happy moments they enjoyed with Caroline. May they long remember her remarkable life.
