Lawyer: Woman whose twin died in cliff fall lost ‘soul mate’

ALBANY, N.Y. — A woman accused of killing her twin sister by driving their SUV off a cliff on Maui traveled to upstate New York to grieve the loss of her “soul mate,” her lawyer said Friday after a brief court appearance.

Alexandria Duval appeared in court a week after police arrested her in Albany. Her lawyer expects an extradition hearing before Duval returns to Hawaii, where a grand jury indicted her on a second-degree murder charge last month.

Duval, cuffed and wearing a yellow prison jumpsuit, was quiet during a court appearance in which she declined to waive her right to an extradition hearing. But public defender Terence Kindlon told reporters outside the courtroom that she had not been trying to evade authorities and did not know there was a second indictment against her.

An initial indictment stemming from the fatal crash was dismissed by a judge earlier this year.

“She left Hawaii to come back to the states to grieve, not to escape from justice,” Kindlon said.

“She is very distraught. Very distraught. And I think that if nothing else she needs just to reach a greater state of peace with herself because this has been a terrible experience with her. Her sister was her soul mate.”

Authorities say Alexandria Duval was driving an SUV in May with her sister, Anastasia, in the passenger seat when the vehicle crashed into a rock wall and plunged about 200 feet. Authorities have described a hair-pulling fight over the steering wheel.

The Duval sisters were born Alison and Ann Dadow in the Utica, New York, area, about 80 miles west of Albany. Kindlon said Duval has family and friends in the Albany area.

The sisters operated popular yoga studios in Palm Beach County, Florida, from 2008 to 2014 before they changed their names. They moved to Hawaii in December 2015 from Utah.

Duval was remanded back to the county jail after her court appearance.

She is due back in court Dec. 16.