Family members of a Holualoa woman who died two years ago are suing the woman’s estranged husband and Hawaii County police, saying they are responsible for her death from a drug-and-alcohol overdose.
The wrongful death civil suit was filed May 28 in Kona Circuit Court by Honolulu attorney William Harrison on behalf of Patricia Johnson and Jesse Nohealani Hanohano, the mother and sister, respectively, of Kristin Rae Frostad.
Frostad, who was a licensed real estate agent, died June 7, 2023, at age 42.
Named as defendants are Erik Frostad, the county, unnamed “Doe” police officers and other Doe individuals and entities.
The suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive monetary damages, plus costs and attorney’s fees.
According to the complaint, Erik Frostad “was aware of Kristin Rae Frostad’s longstanding struggles with substance abuse, including her history of alcohol and drug dependency. Despite this knowledge, Erik Frostad provided her with alcohol and controlled substances on multiple occasions.”
“During the course of their marriage, Erik Frostad intentionally tampered with Kristin Rae Frostad’s prescribed medication with the specific purpose of rendering her unconscious. These actions amounted to knowingly drugging her without her consent or knowledge,” the suit alleges.
The lawsuit also claims he supplied her “with a combination of alcohol and drugs, that he knew or reasonably should have known would exacerbate her substance abuse disorder and create a substantial risk of to her health and safety.”
“As a direct result of Erik Frostad’s actions, Kristin Rae Frostad ingested a fatal combination of alcohol and drugs, which led to her overdose and untimely death,” the document states.
The police are accused of failing “to conduct a proper welfare check” when requested on June 7, 2023, by a caller unnamed in the lawsuit.
The complaint alleges that an unnamed Hawaii Police Department officer responded to the call and “conducted a brief search of two rooms within the home, spending mere seconds before leaving the premises.”
The suit claims that at the time of the initial check “Kristin Rae Frostad was alive but unconscious in her bed.”
Police were called again hours later, returned to the home and “found Kristin Rae Frostad unresponsive,” according to the complaint. Emergency Medical Services was summoned, but she had died by the time help arrived.
Police are accused of “malfeasance” and “negligence in failing to adequately assess” the woman’s condition, which the suit alleges “ultimately result(ed) in her death,” constituting “a breach of duty in the care owed her.”
At the time of Kristin Frostad’s death “the parties were engaged in a highly contentious divorce proceeding, during which they were disputing ownership and control of Kristin’s real property,” the complaint notes.
Erik Frostad filed for divorce on Feb. 21, 2023, claiming the marriage was “irretrievably broken.” He was granted a temporary restraining order against Johnson on the same date, after claiming in a separate filing he had been harassed and threatened by his then-mother-in-law. He also was granted a TRO against his wife on the same date, but it was dissolved on April 3, 2023, when neither party showed up to a court hearing.
An automatic financial restraining order binding on both parties was issued by the court as part of divorce proceedings.
Erik Frostad also sought protective orders against Kristin Frostad on April 3, 2023, and May 8, 2023. Neither was granted, although the second was still being litigated when Kristen Frostad died.
In addition, on Oct. 23, 2023, Erik Frostad filed a still-active case contesting a homemade will dated May 22, 2023, that would make Johnson both personal representative and sole heir of Kirstin Frostad’s estate.
In his probate petition, Erik Frostad alleges the will, made on the website DoYourOwnWill.com, is “ineffective, fraudulent, forged, unlawful, illegal and/or void” and that Kristin Frostad wasn’t competent to execute a will “due to mental illness and impairment from alcohol abuse.”
He claims his estranged wife was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and severe alcohol use disorder, had been “in six separate clinics for dual diagnosis treatments” and had stayed at Hawaii Island Sober Living and “multiple sober living homes in California.”
According to Erik Frostad’s petition, his wife “had been prescribed and was taking psychiatric medication including Prozak, Rexulti, Ability, Hydroxyzine, Gabapentin and Trazodone.” He claims she was “doing well until late January 2023 when she quit taking her medications.”
Erik Frostad asserts he begged his mother-in-law to help get his wife back on her medication, but Johnson refused. He said Kristin Frostad, after months without taking her medications, “spiraled out of control” and “passed away from oxygen deprivation due to alcohol poisoning.”
A copy of the death certificate is filed under seal in the probate case.
In addition, Erik Frostad alleges Johnson convinced him in early February 2023, prior to his divorce filing, to transfer $500,000 from his personal savings account into his and Kristin Frostad’s joint savings account to “show trust in Kristin’s effort and progress.” He further alleges that “within hours,” the entire balance of that account, about $550,000, was transferred to Johnson.
No accompanying documentation confirms that claim.
A trial by judge on the probate claim is scheduled for Aug. 12 in Kona Circuit Court.
No court date has been set on the wrongful death lawsuit.
Harrison didn’t return multiple calls by the Tribune-Herald in time for this story.
The Office of Corporation Counsel, the county’s civil attorneys, also didn’t respond to contact by the Tribune-Herald.
Honolulu attorney Frederick Arensmeyer, who represents Erik Frostad in the probate case, said he doesn’t know if his client had been served with the lawsuit and referred the Tribune-Herald to the probate filing.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
