Neighbors in disbelief PUKALANI, Maui >> Neighbors along Pahaa Place described Pukalani resident Natalie Sagawinit as a quiet person who lived with her mother and commuted every weekday to Kahului to work for a wholesale food business.
over Maui
woman’s killing
Natalie Sagawinit's body was
found in a sugar cane fieldBy Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.comThey still have difficulty believing her body was found in a sugar cane field.
"Who would do that to her? She's a real nice girl," said Carolyn DeCoite, a neighbor. "I can't believe it happened to her. I was in shock."
Maui police Detective Brian Kaya said a man acquainted with Sagawinit was being held for questioning.
Investigators were waiting yesterday morning for a search warrant before entering her home at 25 Pahaa Pl.
DeCoite said Sagawinit's boyfriend, who operated a nursery, was also a "real nice guy."
She said Sagawinit, who lived in the neighborhood for about eight years, had rented her boyfriend's house after he experienced problems with bad tenants.
"It was to help him out," she said.
He lived with his two children in a separate house in Makawao.
DeCoite said she never heard any arguments coming from Sagawinit's home.
She said Sagawinit usually drove her four-door car and occasionally used a white van.
Bonnie Reyno, a neighbor who lives across the street from the house, said Sagawinit never returned home from work Monday afternoon.
"It was kind of unreal," Reyno said. "She always came home."
A search for her was conducted Tuesday morning.
A white van was found in the vicinity of where the body was discovered Tuesday evening in Lower Kula, about half a mile makai of the Kula Agricultural Park near Pulehu Road.