Tulsi Gabbard's aunt stabbed multiple times, beaten to death by her protégé in Samoa

In a shocking development, the aunt of ex-Democratic Hawaiian Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard was found murdered in a Samoa home last month. 78-year-old Caroline Sinaviana-Gabbard was stabbed multiple times and beaten to death by a hammer during a fight with her protégé Papalii Sia Figiel on May 25. The incident took place at Figiel's house at a time when the two women were alone. It is believed that Caroline had been a mentor to the Samoa-based award-winning author.

Following the gruesome murder, Figiel reportedly fled to a friend's house and later surrendered before police. Police have charged her with murder following a preliminary investigation.

Local media quoted Samoa Police Commissioner Auapaau Logoitino Filipo as saying, "A hammer is alleged to have been used as well as a small knife that inflicted multiple stab wounds on the deceased.”

It was not clear what caused the fatal fight between the two women.

“We do not know what the motive is of the offending but from reports the incident occurred on Saturday and the suspect left the deceased at her home while she went out to Lotofaga and spent time with a friend,” Filipo added.

Who was Caroline Sinaviana-Gabbard?

For almost twenty years, Sinavaiana-Gabbard served as a creative writing and Pacific literature instructor at the school.

According to her family, she was a skilled writer, educator, and environmental activist, and she was the first Samoan to hold a full professorship in the United States.

She was the older sister of Hawaii State Senator Mike Gabbard, Tulsi’s father.

“Caroline was my best friend as a teenager,” Mike Gabbard was quoted as saying by Spectrum News.

“She helped me considerably during my rebellious stage of adolescence. She got me hooked on reading, so much so that I followed in her footsteps and majored in English at Sonoma State University in California, then returned to our birthplace, American Samoa, where I taught English in high schools and was a faculty member, guidance counsellor and dean at the community college for many years," he added.

(With inputs from agencies)