Body is found in the hunt for missing mother, 41, who was last seen at a Hawaii beach club on family holiday as cops arrest her Google Cloud manager husband on suspicion of murder
- Sonam Saxena, 43, reported his wife Smitri missing on Tuesday evening
- The couple were on holiday with their two children aged 13 and eight to celebrate their eldest child’s birthday
- Saxena was arrested a few hours after a body was found near where she went missing
A Google Cloud manager has been arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife during a holiday in Hawaii with their children after a body was found on a beach.
Harvard-educated Sonam Saxena, 43, reported his wife Smitri missing on Tuesday claiming the 41-year-old mother-of-two had vanished during a late night stroll on a secluded beach south of Anaehoomalu Bay, in South Kohala.
The couple were on holiday with their two children aged 13 and eight to celebrate their eldest child’s birthday.
He said Smitri, a business program manager for Microsoft, suffered an asthma attack and disappeared while he went to get her inhaler from their room at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort.
Harvard-educated Sonam Saxena, 43, reported his wife Smitri missing on Tuesday claiming the 41-year-old mother-of-two had vanished during a late night stroll on a secluded beach south of Anaehoomalu Bay, in South Kohala
Lava Lava Beach Club in Waikoloa near where her husband said she went missing during a late night stroll on Tuesday
Harvard-educated Sonam Saxena, 43, reported his wife Smitri missing on Tuesday claiming the 41-year-old mother-of-two had vanished during a late night stroll on a secluded beach south of Anaehoomalu Bay, in South Kohala
Sonam Saxena, 43, was arrested after a body was found near Anaehoomalu Bay, in South Kohala (pictured) the morning after he had reported her missing
Police found a body yesterday morning near where she was last seen and arrested Saxena, from Bellevue, Washington, a few hours later on suspicion of second degree murder.
The Hawaii Police Department has not yet released the identity of the body
Before his arrest, Saxena – a product manager at Google Cloud in Seattle – gave an interview with West Hawaii Today and described how his wife went missing.
He said: ‘She got an asthma attack right there on the beach and she was feeling weak and she didn’t want to walk all the way back because it’s almost a 20-minute walk back from that beach to our room.
‘So, I said, ‘hey, you know what? You stay here, you have your phone with you and I’ll just go to the room grab your inhaler and pump and come back.’
When he returned ’40 to 50 minutes’ later he found her purse, phone, credit card and driver’s license were all there but she had gone.
He said: ‘I was disturbed because why would she leave her purse and her phone on the beach and head back to the room.
‘It just seemed really odd,’ he said. ‘So I rushed back to the room. I checked the room and I saw that she wasn’t in the room. So I went down stairs and that’s when I dialed 911.’
Prior to graduating from Harvard Business School in General Management, Sonam earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nautical Science from Mumbai University
Prior to the arrival of police, Sonam Saxena said he and security searched the beach.
‘We called out for her but there was nothing,’ he said. ‘No response.’
The pair, married for 17 years with two children, ages 13 and 8, come to Hawaii every year to celebrate their eldest child’s birthday.
The couple were on holiday with their two children aged 13 and eight to celebrate their eldest child’s birthday
Harvard-educated Sonam Saxena, 43, reported his wife Smitri missing on Tuesday claiming the 41-year-old mother-of-two had vanished during a late night stroll on a secluded beach south of Anaehoomalu Bay, in South Kohala
