Hawai‘i Island police are investigating a recent two-vehicle Waikoloa traffic collision that left killed two elderly women.

On March 30, police determined that a blue 2020 Kia Soul SUV was heading east on Waikoloa Road, near the 3-mile-marker, when it crossed over the center line and struck a silver 2024 Chevrolet Blazer SUV head-on traveling west.

The driver of the Kia, 72-year-old Lynn Capell of Waimea, was transported to the North Hawaiʻi Community Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

The  75-year-old man from Washington who was operating the Chevrolet, and the front seat passenger, a 77-year-old man from Alabama, were also transported to the North Hawaiʻi Community Hospital for further treatment.

The right rear passenger of the Chevrolet, 79-year-old Eugenia Taylor, from Alabama, was unresponsive at the scene and transported to the Kona Community Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

A third vehicle veered off the road onto lava rock to avoid the crash. The operator of that vehicle, a silver 2023 Chevrolet Equinox, and three passengers, were uninjured but the vehicle was rendered inoperable.

Police currently believe that speed and inattention are factors in the crash.

Autopsies have been ordered to determine the exact causes of death.

The Area II Traffic Enforcement Unit has initiated a coroner’s inquest investigation and is asking  anyone who may have witnessed the collision to contact Officer Ansel Robinson at (808) 326-4646, ext. 229, or via email at ansel.robinson@hawaiicounty.gov.