On her last night in Waikiki, Southwest Airlines flight attendant Jenny Lupton sat for a hibiscus flower tattoo and talked about going home to Oklahoma to have it filled in with color.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office announced Oct. 14, 2026, that Lupton, 50, died of multiple injuries she sustained in a fall from the 24th floor of the Hilton Hawaiian Village, a beachfront resort in Waikiki, and ruled the manner of her death a suicide.
A hotel worker found her body beside a dumpster around 6 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 20, nearly two months before the medical examiner reached that finding. Lupton, who lived in Moore, Okla., was at the hotel on a Southwest layover for the night of Aug. 19.
Her family does not accept the ruling. Relatives have called the circumstances suspicious from the start and say the conclusion is wrong. “We have no reason to think that Jenny would have intentionally harmed herself,” said Sam Lupton, her nephew, who said she landed in a waste bin.
From Unattended Death to Homicide Detail
Honolulu police first classified the case as an unattended death investigation, a Hawaii designation that applies when nobody witnesses a death or when a person dies outside the care of a physician. The term points to procedure, not a conclusion. Such cases generally stay open until autopsy and toxicology results come back, and that wait can stretch on for weeks.
The case later moved to the Honolulu Police Department’s Homicide Detail. Detectives conducted interviews, recovered and reviewed surveillance video and examined evidence, and the department said it was working closely with the family.
Police said no immediate conclusions had been reached about the manner of death while the investigation remained active. They withheld some information to preserve the integrity of the case, and said they would notify the public if investigators identified an immediate threat.
The Cameras the Family Hasn’t Seen
Hotel security told the Luptons that more than 70 cameras cover the area and that officers were going through the recordings. Relatives say nobody has told them whether those recordings captured the fall, or whether anyone witnessed it.
The family’s frustration started early. The medical examiner tried to reach Lupton’s Oklahoma relatives shortly after noon on Aug. 20, but they did not see the message until the next morning. In August, the family told KOCO 5 its only contact had been with the medical examiner’s office and that police had not been in touch at all.
Relatives then asked the Oklahoma attorney general to step in. That office said it had been in contact with the office of Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez to help ensure a proper investigation.
Lupton spent part of her last night out with a colleague. Her sister, Tresa Lupton, said a fellow flight attendant went dancing with her that night and that Jenny Lupton texted relatives before heading back to the hotel. She had plans with that colleague for the next day.
A Phone Police Cannot Open
The family spoke directly with the medical examiner, Tresa Lupton said, and came away convinced the file was incomplete. The medical examiner had not received certain information and evidence that could matter to his findings, she said. According to the family, he acknowledged that autopsy findings alone could not show whether the death involved foul play, was self-inflicted or was accidental. Tresa Lupton said he also acknowledged that “additional information could warrant reconsideration of his findings.”
One piece of that information remains locked away. The medical examiner wanted to review Lupton’s phone data to understand her state of mind, the family said, and he made the ruling without it. Police have held the phone since her death and have not been able to access it, Tresa Lupton said.
She also said samples taken from under her sister’s fingernails during evidence collection were never run against a database. The family has raised questions about hotel security and room access records, and says physical evidence suggests none of the balcony furniture was pushed against the railing.
Honolulu police said after the ruling that they would release no further details and that the investigation is still ongoing. The family says detectives are still following up on tips and leads.
A Hometown the Records Got Wrong
Lupton worked as a flight attendant for 29 years, 26 of them with Southwest. She was born and raised in Moore, a suburb just south of Oklahoma City, though the medical examiner listed her hometown as Cleveland, Okla. She leaves behind a 15-year-old son.
Southwest Airlines said it was “deeply saddened by the passing of our colleague during a layover in Hawaii.” The airline said it had offered condolences and support to her family and coworkers and was engaged with local authorities as they investigated.