Police believe Matthew A. Poole killed his girlfriend Ashley M. Kuregian before reporting her missing and suicidal in Kea’au, Hawaii
A man who reported his girlfriend missing in Hawaii was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.
Police investigating the disappearance of Ashley M. Kuregian, 38, executed a search warrant at a home in Kea’au, Hawaii, on May 23, according to a Hawaii Police Department news release. There, officers said they announced themselves and heard a “loud bang” inside the house that sounded like a gunshot.
Once inside, officers found a man — later identified as Kuregian’s boyfriend, Matthew A. Poole — dead from a gunshot wound, police said. A firearm was also found. A subsequent autopsy confirmed he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, the release said.
Two days earlier, on May 21, Poole had reported Kuregian missing after not being seen for about a week, police said.
During a search of Poole’s home on the evening of May 23, police found information that led them to search for Kuregian in the Orchidland Estates Subdivision. Around 7 p.m., authorities found a body “in advanced stages of decomposition,” the release said. The remains were found on a vacant, undeveloped property in Kea’au and were later identified as Kuregian, police said.
A medical examiner determined that Kuregian died of a single gunshot wound to the head and her manner of death was ruled a homicide, according to the release. Police say they are now investigating the missing persons case as a murder-suicide.
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During a GoFundMe campaign set up after her death, Kuregian was remembered as the mother of an 11-year-old daughter named Delilah.
“Our sweet, beautiful Ashley (Birdie) Kuregian was tragically taken from this world by the hand of another,” wrote fundraising organizer Michelle McDaniel.
As of June 4, the fundraiser has raised more than $10,000 in donations that McDaniel said will go toward funeral expenses and a college fund for Kuregian’s daughter.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or visit thehotline.org. All calls are free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
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