A Southwest Airlines flight attendant got a hibiscus tattoo on her last night in Waikiki, with plans to have it filled in with color once she was back home in Oklahoma.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office announced Oct. 14, 2026, that Jenny Lupton fell from the 24th floor of the Hilton Hawaiian Village and died of multiple injuries sustained in that fall. Lupton, 50, worked as a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines and lived in Moore, Okla. The office ruled the manner of her death a suicide.
Staff at the beachfront resort in Waikiki had found her dead nearly two months before that finding was issued. Her family says the conclusion is wrong, has called the circumstances suspicious from the start and does not accept the ruling.
“We have no reason to think that Jenny would have intentionally harmed herself,” Sam Lupton, her nephew, said.
Beside a Dumpster After a Layover
Around 6 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 20, a hotel worker came upon her body beside a dumpster. Her nephew said she landed in a waste bin.
A Southwest layover had put Lupton at the hotel for the night of Aug. 19. The medical examiner tried to reach relatives in Oklahoma shortly after noon on Aug. 20, but the family did not see the message until the next morning.
The Case Moves to Homicide
Honolulu police initially logged the case as an unattended death investigation, a Hawaii designation that applies if nobody witnesses a death or if the person dies outside the care of a physician. The term points to a procedure rather than a conclusion. Autopsy and toxicology results generally keep such cases open until they come back, and the wait can stretch on for weeks.
The department later transferred the case to the Honolulu Police Department’s Homicide Detail. Detectives there interviewed people, recovered surveillance video and reviewed it, and examined evidence; 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, and that they were withholding some information to preserve the integrity of the case. They added that they would notify the public if investigators identified an immediate threat.
Hotel security told the Luptons that more than 70 cameras cover the area, and officers were going through the recordings. Relatives say no one has told them whether any of those recordings captured the fall, or whether anyone witnessed it.
In August, the family told KOCO 5 that its only contact had been with the medical examiner’s office, and that police had not been in touch at all. The family asked the Oklahoma attorney general to assist in the investigation, and that office said it had been in contact with the office of Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez to help ensure a proper investigation.
She Was Dancing That Night
Tresa Lupton, her sister, said a fellow flight attendant had gone dancing with Jenny Lupton that night, and that she texted relatives before heading back to the hotel. She was also making plans with that colleague for the next day.
“We just want to know what happened,” her sister said.
Honolulu police said after the ruling that they would release no further details, and that the investigation “remains active and ongoing.” The family says detectives are still following up on tips and leads.
The Phone Police Still Hold
Tresa Lupton said the family spoke directly with the medical examiner, who had not received certain information and evidence that could matter to his findings. 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.
The family said the medical examiner wanted to review her phone data to understand her state of mind, and that he made the ruling without it. Police have held the phone since her death, Tresa Lupton said, but have not been able to access it.
The medical examiner acknowledged that “additional information could warrant reconsideration of his findings,” she said.
Tresa Lupton also said samples taken from under her sister’s fingernails during evidence collection were never run against a database. The family has also raised questions about hotel security and room access records, and says physical evidence suggests none of the balcony furniture was pushed against the railing.
A Tattoo She Meant to Finish
Her career as a flight attendant spanned 29 years, 26 of them with Southwest. She was born and raised in Moore, the suburb just south of Oklahoma City, though the medical examiner listed her hometown as Cleveland, Okla. She leaves behind a 15-year-old son.
She got the hibiscus flower tattoo the night she died, and had talked about returning to Oklahoma to have it filled in with color.
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.
