A veteran Southwest Airlines flight attendant was found dead near a dumpster in Hawaii after apparently falling from the 24th floor of a Waikiki hotel while on a layover, according to reports.
Jenny Lupton, 50, of Oklahoma, was staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu when her body was discovered early Thursday morning by a hotel employee.
Lupton had worked as a Southwest flight attendant for 23 years and was in Hawaii for work at the time of her death.
Medical examiners said it appeared she had fallen from the balcony of her room on the 24th floor, according to local reports.
Her body was found near a dumpster outside the resort.
Authorities are still investigating exactly what happened.
Lupton’s family said they were not notified of her death until roughly 24 hours after she was found, and they do not believe she intentionally took her own life.
“We strongly believe that she didn’t do this intentionally, and so that leads us to think it was either some kind of freak accident or someone harmed her,” her sister, Tresa Lupton, told KFOR.
“We just want to know what happened. It doesn’t feel real.”
The family said Lupton had been enjoying her Hawaii layover in the hours before her death.
According to her sister, she had gone out dancing with another flight attendant and appeared to be having a good time.
“She just went out with one of her flight attendant friends, and they danced and had a good time,” Tresa said.
Lupton had also gotten a new tattoo just hours before she died.
“She had just gotten a tattoo hours before this happened, and she messaged me,” Tresa said. “She said that when she gets back, she’s going to have it colored in because it was just the outline.”
Lupton, who loved gardening, had reportedly planned to get a hibiscus tattoo in memory of her late father.
Her sister said the two were extremely close and had been making plans to spend even more time traveling and living together.
“We were the closest of sisters, and we were the same, but we were opposites, like yin and yang and, you know, black and white, peanut butter and jelly, two peas in a pod,” Tresa said.
Lupton had traveled frequently and knew Hawaii well.
Her niece, Hannah Lupton, said the family had traveled together to places including San Diego and Colorado.
“She was very well versed in Hawaii; she loved Hawaii and had gone multiple times,” Hannah said.
Lupton leaves behind her 15-year-old son, Kaleb.
Friends and family members have since flooded social media with tributes to the longtime flight attendant.
Hannah, who followed in her aunt’s footsteps and also became a flight attendant, described Lupton as someone who could instantly light up a room.
“She was truly the best aunt anyone could have asked for,” Hannah wrote.
“She was the light of every party, the person who could make a room brighter simply by being in it.”
She added that Lupton had an unforgettable personality and was the kind of person almost everyone who knew her had a funny story about.
“She was unforgettable. She was loved. She was the life of the party, the storyteller, the aunt everyone wishes they had,” Hannah wrote. “She will always be a part of me.”
Friend Mel Haggard described Lupton as a “goddess of the sky” and reportedly traveled to Hawaii following her death.
For now, Lupton’s family is waiting for answers as investigators work to determine how the experienced flight attendant fell from the high-rise hotel balcony.
The investigation into her death remains ongoing.
