Matthew Ornellas
Matthew J. Ornellas Jr. died on March 28, 2024, at Wilcox Medical Center in Lihue, Kauai, while in the custody of the Hawaii Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He was 33, and he was held at the Kauai Community Correctional Center. According to the department, he escaped by climbing the perimeter fence in the early hours of March 22, 2024; officers chased him into brush and lost sight of him, then heard a loud noise from the road and saw a dark car speeding away. He was found badly injured beside a roadside ditch on Kuhio Highway and died at the hospital after his condition worsened. The department said his injuries came from an apparent hit-and-run, the driver left the scene and has not been identified, and the department's investigation into the escape is ongoing.
Cause of death, as reported: Died in an accident. The Hawaii Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation says a driver struck Ornellas on Kuhio Highway after he climbed out of the Kauai Community Correctional Center, and that the driver then fled the scene.
Reported by: Hawaii Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (the agency that held him). The only account of how this person died comes from the agency that held him.