Alison Dadow murdered twin by driving car off cliff: police

A high-flying yoga entrepreneur has been charged with murdering her twin sister by driving their 4WD off a cliff in Hawaii.

Alison Dadow, 37, was seen "pulling the hair" and arguing with her sister Ann on May 29 while their car sat stationary in the middle of a Maui road, Hawaii News Now reports.

It then suddenly accelerated, smashing through a rock wall before plunging 60 metres off a cliff.

Dadow was taken to hospital and later arrested while trying to fly out of Honolulu to New York.

The charges cap off a stunning fall from grace for the former yoga guru.

Dubbed "the terrible twins of yoga" by Florida gossip columns, the pair ran a successful studio in Palm Springs in the early 2010s, owning Porsches and shopping in the upmarket strip of Worth Avenue, The Washington Post reports.

The business collapsed in 2014 under a mountain of debt and unpaid wages.

They then opened another studio in Park City, Utah, this time specialising in "Doga".

"It is just a time to come in and connect with your pet," Ann Dadow said.

That business soon folded, and in late 2015 the pair surfaced in Hawaii under new names, Alexandria and Anastasia Duval.

Shortly before her arrest, Alison Dadow was seen at a homeless shelter begging for cash.

Police believe the collapse of their lavish lifestyle contributed to Ann Dadow's murder.

According to court documents, records from the car’s airbag control module show the vehicle experienced a sudden hard acceleration and no braking, even after it crashed into the rock wall.

Dadow has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.

"They were extremely close, even by identical twin standards," her lawyer Todd Eddins said.

"Alison did not try to harm herself or the person she most loved and was closest to in the world."