Authorities yesterday identified the woman whose body was found Tuesday morning at Kalihiwai Bay on Kaua'i. Heather Bell, 39, died of multiple injuries from a fall, a county spokeswoman said.

Foul play is not suspected. Police are continuing their investigation of the case.

CASE FROM 1979 WON'T BE PURSUED

Citing "problematic legal issues," Hawai'i Attorney General Mark Bennett has decided to not continue pursuing an investigation into the 1979 killing of a 28-year-old New York man.

In a July 20 letter to the man's brothers, Bennett said he personally reviewed the files and interviewed an unnamed key witness before deciding against attempting extradition and prosecution of a suspect in the crime.

The letter was released by Kurt Mausert, a lawyer in upstate New York whose brother, Eric Mausert, was stabbed in the heart on a Honolulu street while accompanying a young couple from his Hare Krishna temple to the airport. Eric Mausert died Feb. 22, 1979.

Juvenal Llaneza, the brother of the woman who was with Mausert, was jailed after the stabbing, but released after 48 hours. He then apparently left the country by the time he was indicted for manslaughter several months later.

Kurt Mausert and his brother, Mark, both lawyers, have tenaciously lobbied prosecutors in Hawai'i for more than a decade to take up the cold case. Mausert said he located Llaneza in the Philippines with a Google search.

PA'IHI BRIDGE CLOSED FOR HOURS

Maui authorities yesterday closed Pa'ihi Bridge, situated between Hana town and Kipahulu, for several hours because of erosion that occurred on land beneath the Hana side of the bridge.

Haleakala National Park officials took precautionary measures and located visitors in the affected Kipahulu section of the park and advised them to leave the area to avoid becoming stranded by the bridge closure.

Two county bridge inspectors determined that what appeared to be erosion from runoff water channeled from a nearby stream had caused no damage to the bridge and that the structure remained stable. A structural engineer will develop measures to protect and stabilize the surrounding slopes.

Public works personnel will continue to monitor the situation believed to have been affected by recent rains.

The original one lane Pa'ihi Bridge built in 1911 was severely damaged by the Oct. 15 earthquakes. A temporary steel bridge was built parallel to the damaged bridge in November and opened in December.