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Woman murdered
on Kauai beach

Police say the unnamed
surfer, 43, was camping
by Pakala Point Beach

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By Anthony Sommer
Star-Bulletin

LIHUE -- Kauai police are trying to determine whether the similarities in two murders and an attempted murder on the island's west side over the past five months point to the same attacker.

The body of a 43-year-old woman carrying identification indicating she was from Maui was found near her campsite at Pakala Point Beach around noon yesterday. "It's a confirmed homicide," Police Lt. Bill Ching said.

On April 7, the seminude body of 38-year-old Lisa Bissell was found in a ditch near Polihale State Park near Kekaha. As with the latest victim, police have not released details of her injuries.

On May 22, a 52-year-old Kekaha woman was stabbed in what police characterized as a foiled sexual assault.

"All of the victims were Caucasian women, between 5 feet 2 inches and 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing about 100 pounds," Ching said.

Ching said detectives have not yet been able to confirm the identity of the latest victim because they and Maui police have not located any next of kin.

They said she had been camping at Pakala, possibly since Monday, and the belongings at her campsite indicated she had been alone and had come there to surf.

She had been dead at least 12 hours when her body was found, Ching said. Detectives have not found a vehicle either belonging to her or rented by her, and they are not sure how she got to the beach.

"We're trying to track who may have seen her over the past few days," Ching said.

Meanwhile, police have been swamped with phone calls from frightened west-side women.

"We've been busy, but the ones who are really getting flooded with calls are the dispatchers in Lihue," said a receptionist at the Waimea police substation.

Pakala Point is adjacent to Pakala Village, a sugar camp still in use by employees of the Gay & Robinson sugar plantation.

It has long been considered one of Kauai's best surfing sites during the summer months, and its existence was a carefully guarded secret among local surfers.

But a dispute between the Robinsons and the surfers -- who park along Kaumualii Highway and walk about a half-mile across Robinson land on a footpath -- brought the area substantial publicity over the past few years and, as a result, a much larger number of surfers. The Robinsons, who for a time pastured bulls on the land to discourage trespassers, have reached agreements with the surfers allowing them daytime access to the beach but forbidding camping.

"If she (the murder victim) was camping there, she wasn't supposed to be," said Warren Robinson, head of Robinson Family Partners. Security guards from the plantation check the area frequently and always ask campers to leave, Robinson said.