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A young woman’s death at an illegal New Year’s Eve party in a North Shore state forest reserve has left a community grieving and many neighbors wondering why authorities hadn’t cracked down on the annual event sooner.

Tiare Couto, 19, died early on Jan. 1 after slipping and falling on a muddy trail while hiking out of the Pūpūkea-Paumalū State Park Reserve from a party at a clearing called Pipeline Bunker.

Residents of Haleiwa, where the trailhead is located in the parking lot of Sunset Beach Elementary School, say the New Year’s Eve gathering has been happening in the woods for years, stoking fears about the safety of the partygoers — usually teens and young adults. 

Neighbors say the party has grown in popularity over the years, and this year drew hundreds of young people to the bunker, which is about a 20-minute hike from the trailhead. Dark, rainy conditions that night made it especially treacherous.

Department of Land and Natural Resources spokesman Dan Dennison said in an email the department received complaints from residents about the party last year but did not hear about the gathering this year until the day after it occurred.

He said the Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement and the Division of State Parks are investigating the event, which did not have a permit.

“The DLNR Division of State Parks would never approve a request for an event of this type, night or day, in an undeveloped park reserve area without safe and developed facilities and access routes,” he wrote.

“When given advance warning of advertised illegal events like this in the past … DLNR has been successful in contacting the organizers and getting the events cancelled,” Dennison said, adding word of the gatherings has typically been via social media.

Couto’s death has also brought up long-simmering concerns among community members that young people don’t have enough spaces on the North Shore where they can gather safely. 

“Kids want to get together, they want to celebrate,” said Haleiwa resident Karen Gallagher. “I just think we need community-based alternatives.” 

What Happened That Night 

A mother of a young woman who attended the party said her daughter told her the trail was pitch black, lit only by glow sticks, and it was pouring rain and muddy, causing attendees to slip as they hiked up to the Pipeline Bunker on New Year’s Eve.

When her daughter was heading back down, there were no more glow sticks lighting the way, the mother said, speaking on condition of anonymity because she lacked approval from Couto’s family to discuss the events.

The area is called the Pipeline Bunker because of a concrete structure there resembling a military bunker, according to Racquel Achiu, vice chair of the North Shore Neighborhood Board.

According to a Honolulu police incident report, a an officer in the Sunset Beach Elementary School parking lot at around 12:30 a.m. on Jan. 1 and said they’d hiked down from the party and couldn’t find one of their friends. 

Around 200 people exited the trail over the next three hours, the report says. 

At 4 a.m., the officer was notified Couto had still not exited the trail. The officer went to the trailhead and heard someone calling for help. A man who said he was the father of one of the women in the group told the officer he found Couto and that she had fallen and couldn’t get up.

The Honolulu Fire Department then responded and helped escort Couto out of the woods, the incident report says.

When asked what caused the delay in searching for Couto, police spokeswoman Michelle Yu said in an email, “A timeline that includes when and what information was provided will be part of the investigation.”

The Honolulu Emergency Services Department made contact with her just before 6 a.m., and she was unresponsive, according to EMS spokeswoman Shayne Enright. Paramedics performed advanced life support and transported her in critical condition to an emergency room. 

She died at the hospital, according to police. Phillip Verso, an investigator with the Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office, said her cause of death was a penetrating injury.

The Party 

The New Year’s Eve party is loosely organized every year by local young people who spread word among friends and on social media, said Brooke Roy, who manages The Growing Keiki children’s shop in Haleiwa. Though she said she’s never been to one of the parties, she’s heard about them every year for at least the past five years.

Dennison said the Department of Land and Natural Resources has not received formal complaints about the event other than a call from a resident to report an illegal gathering on Dec. 31, 2023. He did not respond to a question about what the outcome of that call was. 

He also said DLNR received no prior notice about the event this year and could not respond or take action “without current, relevant information at hand.”

Dennison said the party may have violated various state rules, though he said what rules apply will depend on the outcome of the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ investigation. 

For example, he said groups larger than 25 people are required to obtain permits and any event classified as a concert or festival needs a special use permit. Also the use of drugs, alcohol and electric generators are not allowed in the reserve. 

Achiu said the neighborhood board has never submitted a formal complaint to the state about the party. 

She said the trails in the area are popular with hikers, and Couto’s death on New Year’s Day is the first serious incident she’s heard about in the area. 

“It’s just a horrific, very unfortunate accident,” she said. 

But Roy said she’s heard about people being injured at parties at the bunker in past years. 

Besides this year’s incident, EMS has responded once to the Sunset Beach Elementary trailhead around New Year’s since 2020, according to Enright. At around 1:20 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2023, paramedics responded to a 911 call about an intoxicated 18-year-old man who had been to a party in the forest. He declined transport to a hospital. 

For Roy, the combination of young people partying at night at the top of a steep, rocky trail is a recipe for disaster. 

“I wouldn’t be bummed if (the party) never happened again,” she said. “Just because I think that the safety of our youth is the most important thing.” 

But residents agree the lack of gathering spaces on the North Shore for young people is part of what drives them to organize illegal events. 

The closest major event venue is The Ritz-Carlton O‘ahu, formerly Turtle Bay Resort, in Kahuku, and attending events there is usually far too expensive for young people, Roy said. 

There are no community-based fireworks displays on the North Shore, Gallagher said, and there are few free places to gather other than the parks and beaches. 

Sunset Beach Recreation Center in Haleiwa, for example, closes at 5 p.m. and sometimes operates with limited hours because of short staffing, said Gallagher who runs a local newspaper, the Paumalu Press.

“I just think that the communities need to provide safe, family-friendly celebrations for the New Year and for Fourth of July, and that would eliminate, or mostly eliminate, all the illegal stuff going on,” she said. 

A ‘Passionate And Dedicated Student Leader’

Couto grew up on the North Shore and was a sophomore at the University of Utah studying environmental and sustainability studies and political science, according to the university.

Attempts to reach her family were unsuccessful.

In a Q&A published by the university, she said the issue she was was environmental racism. She was inspired by her love for the ocean and seeing the effects of tourism and climate change on the environment around her.

She was one of 10 students selected to represent the university’s College of Social and Behavioral Science as a student ambassador, the college’s dean, Michelle Camacho, wrote in an email to students and staff on Thursday.

She was a “passionate and dedicated” student leader with an “unwavering commitment” to environmental issues, Camacho wrote. “Her positive impact on our community will be deeply missed.”

Couto said in a Dec. 9 that growing up on the North Shore, environmental advocacy was the norm.

“I love caring about the planet and I want to earn the skills I need to find common ground with people who have different viewpoints than me,” she said. “I am interested in working on environmental change at a policy level.”

This story has been corrected with the correct spelling of Tiare Couto.