A Southwest Airlines flight attendant who spent nearly three decades in the air died during a layover in Waikiki, and her family refuses to accept the official explanation of how.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office announced on Oct. 14, 2026, that Jenny Lupton, a 50-year-old Southwest Airlines flight attendant from Moore, Okla., died of multiple injuries she sustained in a fall from the 24th floor of the Hilton Hawaiian Village, and ruled the manner of her death a suicide.

The finding came nearly two months after she was found dead at the beachfront resort in Waikiki. 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.

Lupton worked as a flight attendant for 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 Cleveland, Okla., as her hometown. A 15-year-old son survives her.

Southwest Airlines said it was deeply saddened by the death of a 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.

Found Beside a Dumpster in Waikiki

A hotel worker found her body beside a dumpster around 6 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 20. Her nephew said she landed in a waste bin. She had spent the night of Aug. 19 at the hotel during a Southwest layover.

The medical examiner tried to reach her Oklahoma relatives shortly after noon that day. They did not see the message until the next morning.

Honolulu police first logged the case as an unattended death investigation, the Hawaii designation for a death with no witness present or outside the care of a physician. The label describes procedure, not a conclusion. Such investigations typically stay open until autopsy and toxicology results arrive, a process that can run for weeks.

A Case Handed to Homicide

Police transferred the case 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 was active, that some information would be withheld to preserve the integrity of the case, and that they would notify the public if investigators identified an immediate threat. After the ruling, Honolulu police said no further details would be released because the investigation “remains active and ongoing.” The family says detectives are still following up on tips and leads.

Hotel security told the Luptons that more than 70 cameras cover the area and that officers were going through the recordings. Relatives say no one has told them whether any recording captured the fall, and they do not know whether anyone witnessed it.

The family has questions about hotel security and room access records. Relatives also say physical evidence suggests none of the balcony furniture was pushed against the railing.

In August, the family told KOCO 5 they had been in contact only with the medical examiner’s office and had received no contact at all from police. The family asked the Oklahoma attorney general for assistance in the investigation, and that office said it was in contact with Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez’s office to help ensure a proper investigation.

The Phone the Ruling Didn’t Have

Tresa Lupton, her sister, spoke directly with the medical examiner and said he had not received certain information and evidence that could matter to the case.

According to the family, he acknowledged that the autopsy findings alone could not show whether her death involved foul play, was self-inflicted or was accidental, and that he wanted to review her phone data to understand her state of mind. He issued the ruling without that data.

Tresa Lupton said police have held the phone since her sister’s death but have not been able to access it. She also said samples taken from under her sister’s fingernails during the evidence collection have never been run against a database.

“He acknowledged that additional information could warrant reconsideration of his findings,” Tresa Lupton said.

A Tattoo She Planned to Color

Her sister went out dancing with a fellow flight attendant that night and texted relatives before she returned to the hotel, Tresa Lupton said. She was also making plans with that colleague for the next day.

She got a hibiscus flower tattoo the night she died, and she talked about returning to Oklahoma to have it filled in with color.

“We just want to know what happened,” her sister, Tresa Lupton, said.