Making the choice to adopt a child is a noble one. But sometimes, that nobility isn’t entirely pure. Adoptive parents are just as capable of inflicting harm on their children as biological parents can, and it is especially terrible when that adoptive parent works with kids. Hawaiian adoptive mom Sina Pili — a social worker — has been arrested following the death of her daughter. The girl showed signs of apparent abuse when she died. And after further investigation, the mom’s alleged level of abuse was intense.
Sina Pili, 39, was arrested on Friday, March 7, 2025, after a grand jury indictment. She was charged with manslaughter, endangering the welfare of a minor, and persistent nonsupport.
On December 22, 2023, first responders responded to a call at Pili’s home in Laie, Honolulu, Hawaii. There, they found 11-year-old Azaeliyah Pili-Ah You, lying unresponsive and covered in bruises. Honolulu Police Department Lt. Deena Thoemmes, spoke about the case in a press conference.
According to Thoemmes, the girl’s adoptive father claimed she got the bruises after she fell in the shower.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office had initially deferred releasing cause and manner of death pending more testing and medical record examination, People reported. A forensic pathologist determined the girl’s cause of death to be “multiple injuries from child abuse,” ruling the death as a homicide in June 2024.
Aside from the “extensive bruising” initially seen, there were more injuries. The forensic pathologist discovered that Azaeliyah had “abrasions” on her body. Additionally, they discovered “wounds to the nose consistent with being bitten” and “internal injuries to the inside of the neck likely from strangulation,” according to Thoemmes.
The child also tested positive for COVID-19, influenza, and pneumonia.
On the day of her death, Pili allegedly forced her daughter to run outside despite the girl being sick. Then, she “slapped and punched Azaeliyah multiple times over a 30-minute period.”
“Child torture is insidious. It is gradual, calculated, and systematic, and intended to break its victims completely,” Thoemmes said, reported KHNL.
As police investigated Azaeliyah’s death, her other four siblings, who were also adopted by Pili and her husband, were taken into protective custody. They range in age between 12 and 7.
Meanwhile, Pili continued to work at Kahuku High and Intermediate School where she was a behavioral health specialist, the outlet reported. She also worked as an adjunct professor at Brigham Young University–Hawaii. A spokesperson told People that she was terminated after her arrest. She was also put on leave from her other job, a spokesperson from the Hawaii Department of Education told the outlet.
Sina Pili is currently being held without bail at the Women’s Community Correctional Center in Kailua. She will face arraignment in March 2025.
If you suspect child abuse, you can call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 (1-800-4-A-Child), or go to Childhelp.org. The hotline is available 24/7.
