In 2016, former yoga instructor Alexandria Duval was behind the wheel of an SUV that plunged 200 feet off a Hawaiian cliff, crashing into the rocky shoreline below. She survived the fall, but her twin sister, Anastasia, died in the wreck.
Authorities ended up filing murder charges against Duval, alleging she deliberately drove over the cliff’s edge. Witnesses had said they heard screaming coming from the vehicle moments before the crash and told police the sisters were “physically fighting within the car” as it headed toward the precipice.
As the tragedy gained national attention, so did the sisters’ often contentious relationship.
Earlier this year, Duval — who long maintained her innocence — was exonerated by a judge in her trial, ending a two-year legal saga that generated headlines the world over.
Duval has never spoken publicly about the crash or Anastasia’s death. She didn’t even take the stand at her own trial. But she’s speaking now — to Dr. Phil McGraw on Thursday’s episode of Dr. Phil, an exclusive clip of which is shown below.
She tells McGraw she does not remember much about what happened before or after the crash, but can recall being airlifted — unaware she’d never see her sister again.
It wasn’t until “way after,” when she was in the hospital, that she learned Anastasia had died.
The show’s host even offers up his own theory on the incident during Thursday’s episode.
“You wanna know what I think?,” McGraw asks her. “You and your sister had a very volatile relationship. You got into an argument. She started grabbing your hair and all of a sudden, you’re falling 200 feet.”
• Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.
Then he asks: “That is what happened, isn’t it?”
The Duval sisters rose to prominence as yoga instructors in Palm Beach, Florida, where they ran multiple locations of their yoga studio starting in 2008.
While they found success initially, the twins later filed for bankruptcy in 2014, owing more than $100,000, according to court documents.
Duval appears on Thursday’s episode of Dr. Phil. Check local listings for air times.
