Family seeks answers after Oklahoma flight attendant found dead in Hawaii

The family of Jenny Lupton, a Southwest Airlines flight attendant and mother from Moore, Oklahoma, is pressing authorities for answers after she was found dead during a work layover in Waikiki last week.

Ms. Lupton, 50, was discovered dead Thursday morning after reportedly falling from the 24th-floor balcony of her room at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, according to KFOR. Her family was not notified until the following day, and they say they still don’t believe her death was intentional.

“We strongly believe that she didn’t do this intentionally,” her sister, Tresa, told KFOR, adding that the family suspects either “some kind of freak accident or someone harmed her.” Those possibilities have not been established by investigators.

Tresa said her sister had called her only hours before her death to share that she’d gotten a hibiscus tattoo — one the two had long planned to get together in honor of their father, who had planted hibiscus flowers in the family’s yard. Tresa told Fox News that Jenny had “just went out with one of her flight attendant friends” that night, and they had “danced and had a good time.” 

The Honolulu Police Department’s Homicide Detail is actively investigating the circumstances of Ms. Lupton’s death as part of an unattended death investigation, conducting interviews and reviewing and recovering surveillance footage, according to Hawaii News Now. A nephew told the outlet, “We have no reason to think that Jenny would have intentionally harmed herself.” Police say no conclusions have been reached on a manner of death, and that some details will be withheld while the investigation is ongoing.

According to News9, Lupton’s family says a hotel security official told them police are reviewing more than 70 nearby surveillance cameras, though it remains unclear whether anyone witnessed the fall. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has since contacted his Hawaii counterpart, Anne E. Lopez, about the case, with Mr. Drummond’s office saying the Lupton family “deserves to have answers about this tragedy.” 

Southwest Airlines, where her niece said she had worked for 26 of her 29 years as a flight attendant, said in a statement that the company was “deeply saddened by the passing of our colleague during a layover in Hawaii” and that it was in contact with local authorities as they investigate.

Family and friends remember Ms. Lupton as an avid University of Oklahoma football fan and gardener who was, in her niece’s words, “a friend to everybody that she met.” She is survived by her 15-year-old son. A niece who also works as a Southwest flight attendant said Ms. Lupton had mentored her into the profession.

Friends of the family have organized an online fundraiser to help cover expenses related to her death.