Police pondering
whether deaths
were connected

Both victims were nude
and about the same age

By Jaymes K. Song
and Rod Ohira
Star-Bulletin

Homicide investigators are trying to determine if the deaths of Michelle Anne Bensinger and Jubilee Lum could be connected.

Both women were found nude, and both were about the same age. Bensinger was 24, Lum 21.

Bensinger's body was discovered Aug. 10 in a field off Kaukonahua Road near Thomson Corner in Waialua. Police believe the body had been there at least two weeks.

Lum's body was found Tuesday inside a trash bag that was left outside a Dumpster on the 1200 block of South Beretania Street.

Police are investigating Lum's death as a murder, while Bensinger's case is classified as a "suspicious unattended death," said homicide Lt. Allen Napoleon.

The cause of death in both cases has been deferred pending lab tests.

There were no visible puncture wounds on Lum's body, and it is unknown if there were marks on Bensinger's body due to the degree of decomposition, said Napoleon.

Napoleon declined comment on whether the two cases might be linked.

According to court records, Bensinger has 14 prior criminal convictions in Hawaii, including seven for prostitution and three for trespassing.

Her most recent arrest was for prostitution on Aug. 2, 1998.

Lum did not have an adult arrest record.