A young woman who was found dead on a Waikiki beach — and who police believe may have been killed — was a visitor from New Mexico in town with her family for an international dental convention.

The woman's identity has not officially been released, but last night KITV identified her as Bryanna Antone, 25, a college student.

She left the Waikiki Ohana Hotel with a man about 1:40 a.m. Friday. Hours later, her nude body was found on a stretch of beach fronting some of the tourism mecca's high-end hotels.

Now police want to question the man she was last seen with.

Describing the death as a possible homicide, Honolulu Police Department spokesman Maj. Clayton Kau said yesterday that police are looking for Aaron M. Susa, 31, describing him as a "person of interest" in connection with the case. Susa is described as 5 feet 10 and 180 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. He lives on O'ahu and frequents the Waikiki area, Kau said.

Susa has two outstanding traffic warrants, Kau said, declining to go into other details about any possible criminal record.

Kau gave no details about how the woman might have met or known Susa.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner's Office said the cause of death had not been determined. However, Kau did say that the suspicious nature of the case has prompted HPD to investigate it as a possible homicide. He gave no details about any possible injuries to the woman.

Her body was discovered by a jogger just after 6 a.m. on the beach near the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

"It's a very important case, and we want to solve it," Kau said yesterday. "We very much want to talk to Mr. Susa."

Police also want to speak with the jogger who discovered the woman's body.

Kau would not say where the woman and her family were from. He did say that her family asked that the news media respect their privacy in their time of grief over the death of the person they called "our sister and daughter and treat her death with the dignity she deserves."

More than 24,000 people from across the nation and world flocked to Waikiki last week for the American Dental Association convention.