Ashley Michelle Kuregian, 38, a White woman from Kea'au, Hawai‘i, disappeared in mid-May 2024 after she was last seen the evening of May 14 at a residence on 15th Avenue in the Hawaiian Paradise Park subdivision. When she still hadn't turned up days later, police publicly asked for help locating her on May 22, describing her as 5 feet 5 inches tall and about 125 pounds, with long brown hair and brown eyes, and saying she was known to frequent the Pāhoa and Kalapana areas.

The next day, May 23, investigators moved the search into a more urgent phase. Shortly before 4:00 p.m., detectives executed a search warrant at a home on the 15-2000 block of 15th Avenue in Kea'au as part of the missing-person investigation. Police said they repeatedly announced themselves and their intention to serve the warrant—and then, from inside the residence, they heard a loud “pop” that sounded like a gunshot. With the possibility of an armed, barricaded person, Special Response and Crisis Negotiation teams were activated while officers secured the area. 
When police ultimately entered, they found the body of a man who appeared to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, with a firearm located nearby. He was identified as Matthew Adrian Poole, also 38, the boyfriend who had reported Kuregian missing on May 21. An autopsy performed May 24 determined he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. 
As officers processed the scene, information uncovered inside the home redirected them into the Orchidland Estates area. Later that same evening—around 7:00 p.m. on May 23—investigators located human remains on a vacant, undeveloped property on the 16-200 block of 36th Avenue in Kea'au, described as being in an advanced stage of decomposition. Police held the scene overnight and recovered the remains the following morning, May 24, before an autopsy was conducted that afternoon. 
On May 31, after additional forensic examination, authorities determined Kuregian died from a single gunshot wound to the head, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide. Police described the case as being investigated as a murder-suicide, and because the only publicly identified suspect—Poole—was already dead, there were no arrests announced in connection with her killing. Investigators said the case remained under active investigation and asked anyone with information to contact the Hawai‘i Police Department. 
