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Murder charges re-filed against Hawaii woman in twin's SUV cliff-plunge death

ALBANY, N.Y. -- A woman who was accused of killing her twin sister by driving their vehicle off a Hawaii cliff in May was being held in a New York jail Monday after again being charged with murder.

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The scene of a fatal May 29 Maui crash that killed 37-year-old Anastasia Duval Tom Johnson via KGMB

New York State Police announced over the weekend that Alexandria Duval, 38, was arrested Friday after being tracked down at an Albany home. Police say when they spotted Duval outside the residence she tried to flee, but she was soon caught.

The arrest comes after the Maui Police Department issued a warrant for Duval’s arrest when a grand jury indicted her on a second-degree murder charge late last month.

Authorities on Maui said Alexandria was driving a Ford Explorer on Hana Highway on May 29 with her sister Anastasia in the passenger seat when the SUV crashed into a rock wall, plunging about 200 feet onto a rocky shoreline during what was described as a hair-pulling fight over the steering wheel.

Anastasia Duval was killed and Alexandria was injured. Alexandria was arrested and jailed on a second-degree murder charge, accused of deliberately causing her sister’s death.

A judge later ordered Alexandria’s release after determining there was no probable cause for a murder charge.

In August, Duval was arrested in Stamford in upstate New York on a drunken driving charge after authorities say she nearly struck a vehicle driven by a state police investigator. She was released about three weeks later.

Duval was being held in the Albany County Jail awaiting extradition to Hawaii.

The Duval sisters, born Alison and Ann Dadow in the Utica, New York, area, 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.

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