ngnd doing things that will make kelli proud and to live your life. andrea canning (voiceover): the family also had something for david marshburn, a very special gift from kelli. kelli's dog tags, which that's a great honor in itself. this is a very important thing for a soldier. i'll always have these. these will stay with me forever. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm andrea canning. thank you for watching. [music playing] helmy friend called me,ng, and she was hysterical. and she said sandra's been killed. i was like, oh, my god.

as soon as she was killed, we all knew who did it. as the months went on, we just realized that this guy's going to get off. how is this happening? just keep praying. that's all we can do. andrea canning (voiceover): there aren't a lot of murders in paradise. people still talk about this one. just a darling girl with two darling children. andrea canning (voiceover): it's a story keith morrison followed for nearly 10 years. how? when? i get a call from her boss, said she hadn't showed up for work. they found her in the car. i saw in the back of her neck some literature marks. she just didn't deserve that. andrea canning (voiceover): a small island, a small pool of suspects. ryan, her lover with a past. i had no idea he was a drug dealer. andrea canning (voiceover): and darren, the soon-to-be ex-husband. that morning, he called in sick. was darren polygraphed? he didn't pass. andrea canning (voiceover): and the lover? he didn't do that good either. andrea canning (voiceover): without much else to go on,

this case was growing colder by the day. nothing because nothing happens. andrea canning (voiceover): but a father doesn't forget. i have to have justice for my daughter. andrea canning (voiceover): after all these years, are there still secrets to uncover? it's been quite a journey for you. [laughs] it isn't over yet. andrea canning (voiceover): this father finally got his answer. but is it the one he wanted? never in my wildest dreams would i imagine what we're going through now. [theme music] hello, and welcome to "dateline." sandra galas was born and raised on an island known as one of the most beautiful places on earth. so how could something so ugly have happened there? the young mother was found strangled to death in her garage. police immediately set their sights on two men close to sandra, but it would take a father's relentless pursuit of the truth to unravel this mystery.

here's keith morrison with "the other side of paradise." keith morrison (voiceover): wandering through this land, you wonder if you've been transported to the beginning of biblical time, to a garden free of want, temptation, or betrayal. and in a land so distractingly beautiful, tourists, who ebb and flow like the tides, could be forgiven for looking past this lone, tormented father, begging for help for a terrible reason-- to solve the murder of his precious daughter, sandy. yeah, i really appreciate it. no, no, no, anything we can do. we're-- this takes time. we hope-- we hope-- we hope we get an arrest this year. this is how close we are. we are 90% there. ok. it's all good. hey.

keith morrison (voiceover): we first came upon larry mendonca, well, on another dateline assignment, way back in 2009, which is when we shot this video. he was 68 years old then. alone, he worked, handing out flyers, gruff and stoic, except when the pain was just too much. it's just that, you know, three years. [crying] it's still rough. keith morrison (voiceover): larry took us to sandra's grave, told us how he promised to bring her killer to justice. she won't be forgotten as long as i'm alive. keith morrison (voiceover): we had no idea then where this meeting would lead us, that our journey would last a decade, a case that would expose evil lurking in this garden paradise and bring larry to the edge of his own mortality.

many on kauai knew sandra, even watched her as a teenager, dancing in a local marketing video. like many here, she was multiracial, growing up in a household that was half japanese, half portuguese, all hawaiian, and a devout catholic who attended saint catherine school with friends alma umalla and joanie morita. so when people ask you what was sandy like, what'd you tell them? [laughter] she was absolutely a go-getter. like, she was teacher's pet. oh, really? always perfect. she always had her hair nicely done. you know, she was always focused. keith morrison (voiceover): in high school, sandra was an athlete, a cheerleader, and very popular. she was the complete package. keith morrison (voiceover): and her home life? old-fashioned. traditional. traditional family, you know? catholic.

play by the rules type of people, yeah. keith morrison (voiceover): discipline a very important thing to larry, he, the 20-year air force veteran. i was trying to toughen her up, if you want to put it in that expression, to know what the real world was like. keith morrison (voiceover): that was why larry insisted sandra leave kauai to go to college. she ended up in honolulu. but for a small island girl, it felt as big and lonely as new york city. she missed kauai, her family, and would come home as often as she could. that's when she got involved with darren. and darren was here. darren was here. keith morrison (voiceover): darren galas, a little older, made good money in his highway construction job. sandra was crazy about him. and soon after she moved home, they got married. son austin came nine months later, and braden two years after that. so by the age of 24, sandra was the matriarch

of her own little clan. she loved the boys to death. i mean, she-- you know. that was-- they were the apple of her eye. keith morrison (voiceover): life was good until april 2005, when sandra came to her parents very upset. as she told us, she was cleaning out her husband's backpack, and two papers fell out, two phone numbers. so she called the phone numbers, and it turned out to be two different married women. keith morrison (voiceover): sandra confronted darren. he would never admit it. he just kept saying they were friends. they were friends. - and she knew otherwise. she knew what it was. keith morrison (voiceover): by june, darren had moved out, and sandra moved on, got a job at the beach house restaurant, an island landmark. it was a life changer. she was just a darling girl, you know, with two darling children. keith morrison (voiceover): christa hall was a waitress at the beach house and saw firsthand sandra's transformation from quiet island girl to young working woman. and she wore her hair back in a ponytail,

and she was very prim and proper and very subdued. and then as soon as she got away from darren, she was, like-- cut her hair in a bob. and it was really cute and stylish all of a sudden. keith morrison (voiceover): sandra started going out with friends. and as is pretty obvious in this concert video, she was enjoying her new life. and before too long, sandra started getting friendly with one of the chefs, a recent transplant from oahu named ryan shinjo. he wined and dined her and took really good care of her. and he was-- i mean, he was really nice to her. i mean, they were always doing all kinds of fabulous things. keith morrison (voiceover): going on honolulu shopping trips, for instance, where ryan would lavish expensive gifts on sandra, like louis vuitton luggage. larry and sandra's mom toshi knew little of this relationship, and on january 25, 2006, were in dallas visiting their son when they got an odd call from sandra's boss. they said she hadn't showed up for work.

that's very unusual for her. keith morrison (voiceover): hours later, the phone rang again. it was 3:00 am, a time when bad news comes calling. larry's son answered the phone. and this is basically how it goes. hello, you know. oh, hi. hi, cousin. no! andrea canning (voiceover): coming up. she was slumped to the right of the passenger seat, face down. andrea canning (voiceover): who wanted sandra dead? she goes driving by with her boyfriend in the car. and from what we were told, he went ballistic. he just flipped out. andrea canning (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. i have active psoriatic arthritis. but with skyrizi to treat my skin and joints, count me in. along with clearer skin, skyrizi helps me move with less joint pain, stiffness, swelling, and fatigue. and is just 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections

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unlimited deposit bonuses and handsome retirement matching? they would descend into chaos. merciless chaos. keith morrison (voiceover): she was beyond the eden the tourists see, out of sight of the rich and verdant estates of the wealthy few. she was in a neighborhood, more working class suburbia than polynesian paradise. in her own small ranch house, in her garage, in her car, she'd been strangled to death. it was sandra's new boyfriend, ryan shinjo, who called the police, said he found her that way. and she was slumped to the right to the passenger seat, face down into the seat. keith morrison (voiceover): roy asher was one of the original investigators.

we spoke to him in 2009. this was three years after sandra was murdered. i saw in the back of her neck some literature marks. we didn't find the cord itself. we have an idea of what could have been used. what? a thin cord like a fishing line. keith morrison (voiceover): sandra's shirt and bra were askew. her lip was split, as if she'd been punched in the face. ryan, the boyfriend-- he's the one on the right of the screen-- told investigators he discovered sandra's body around 9:00 pm. but the cops could see she had been dead for a while by then. probably 8 to 10 hours. which would have put the time of death about-- in the morning. could you get any more exact? no. keith morrison (voiceover): given that the estranged husband, darren, used to live with sandra and ryan was now dating her, their fingerprints could certainly be explained-- nothing suspicious there. but ryan finding the body?

well, that was potentially suspicious. keith morrison: did he have an alibi? yes. keith morrison: uh-huh. and it checked out? yes. do you remember what it was? he was at work. keith morrison (voiceover): so who else? well, there was sandra's estranged husband, darren, of course. and this was interesting. that morning, he called in sick. so, in other words, he didn't have an alibi? no. keith morrison (voiceover): based simply on that lack of an alibi, the police arrested darren. when they first said, you think her husband could have done it, and i said-- my first reaction was no. keith morrison (voiceover): but even as larry tried to wrap his mind around that idea, a detective called him the following day. and he says, we got to let him go. we don't have enough. we've talked to the prosecuting attorney, and we don't have enough. keith morrison (voiceover): meaning what? was darren involved or not?

hit by grief and impatient for answers, larry launched an investigation of his own. it was like a-- i don't know-- a panic. i mean, you know, i've got so many things to do, and i've got to get it done now. keith morrison (voiceover): as a native kuaian and veteran air force intelligence analyst, larry had both the connections and the skills to piece together the details surrounding his daughter's murder. for instance, he found out that two days before the killing, darren, while working on a road crew, saw sandra and ryan together. she goes driving by with her boyfriend in the car. and from what we were told from his co-workers at the time, he went ballistic. you know, he just flipped out. at that time-- and this is important to the case-- sandra and darren shared custody of their two sons. but remember, she worked evenings at the restaurant so the boys slept over with darren. and at 6 o'clock in the morning,

she would show up, pick them up, take them off for breakfast, get them ready for school and daycare. but larry discovered that on the night before she was murdered, sandra stayed over at ryan's house, her boyfriend. he dropped her off at her place at 6:00 am. and then, the neighbors told larry, they saw her leave in her car soon after that, apparently, heading to pick up the boys. keith morrison (voiceover): and neighbors confirmed they saw sandra's car return a short while later, but without the children. larry learned through his contacts that sandra had a 10 o'clock appointment that morning to get her nails done at a salon about 45 minutes away. she never made the appointment. so this is how we narrow down the the time of death before about 9 o'clock, where she would have had to leave to make her appointment. keith morrison (voiceover): the cops didn't tell him, but larry learned from his own sources that boyfriend, ryan, had an alibi while husband, darren,

did not, all of which got larry thinking the same thing as the police. it must have been darren who murdered sandra. right now, i'm driven by the case. i mean, i've got to get there. keith morrison (voiceover): many of sandra's friends like christa hall also thought darren was guilty. i think everyone thought that darren would be arrested immediately, and he would be going to jail, and the children would be going to the grandparents and/or her brother. and everything was going to be ok. keith morrison (voiceover): and exactly one year after the murder, there was indeed an arrest, but it wasn't darren. andrea canning (voiceover): coming up. we've got to get this case solved. andrea canning (voiceover): a new theory about sandra's murder. she may have been smuggling drugs in her new louis vuitton suitcases and not even knowing it. andrea canning (voiceover): and a threat from her father. if i ever figure out a way to get away with it, it'll happen. andrea canning (voiceover): when "dateline" continues.

keith morrison (voiceover): kauai is unique in many ways, not the least of which is this. it's almost a media-free zone. most information spreads here, as it has for generations, by word of mouth, where facts, opinions, and gossip all swirl together as one. and the news swept across the island like a rogue wave. ryan shinjo had been arrested, but not by the island cops--

by the fbi. then we hear that ryan is gone to jail. and we're like, oh, my god. what? did he do it? could that-- and then we hear, no, no, he went to jail for drug dealing, which none of us knew he was a drug dealer. i had no idea he was a drug dealer. ryan, it turned out, was a player in a big money drug trafficking ring, running meth from the mainland to oahu to kauai. well, when people found out about that, rumors started to fly. was ryan using sandra as an unwitting drug mule? when he took her to honolulu, was she bringing back meth with her? who knows? she may have been smuggling drugs in her new louis vuitton suitcases and not even knowing it, you know? keith morrison (voiceover): and the final act of that story? sandra found out about the drug ring and was killed before she could go to the police. but that was just a rumor in a sea of rumors.

police didn't seem any closer to finding sandra's killer, whoever it was. the case grew colder with each passing year. larry still thought darren killed sandra. and it seemed wherever larry went on this small island, there he was. this is the house here with the boat and the truck in there. it's not easy being by here and knowing that he's still running free. we've got to get this case solved. keith morrison (voiceover): on this day, larry and sandra's mom toshi had to see darren at grandson austin's little league game. that's darren on the field coaching, and in the dugout with his girlfriend, shireen, a woman he'd known since before sandra's murder. and it was at this point 2009, three years after sandra's murder, when larry felt the time had come for him to go from investigator to avenger.

he was seriously thinking about killing darren. if i ever figure out a way to get away with it, it'll happen. keith morrison (voiceover): fortunately, the arrival of a new kauai police chief put his plans on hold. daryl perry, a 30-year veteran of the honolulu pd, agreed to meet with larry and listen to his theories about the case. he showed me the scene, and he explained to me what happened. and i could feel his grief. i mean, it wasn't of any forensic value to you to be there to look at it, was it? no, not at all. the point was what? the point was, i wanted him to realize that there is somebody there that's listening to him. what did you do next? we went to her gravesite. we stood there and--

keith morrison: what were you thinking about? i was thinking about the sadness in the loss of a child. there's nothing-- nothing-- nothing like it. nobody can understand unless they've been there. not unless you've lost a child. keith morrison (voiceover): chief perry was struggling to tell us that he did know what it was like to lose a child. he came out of retirement and took the job as head of the kauai police department after the sudden death of his 26-year-old son, erickson. i feel, in a way, that i'm working through him, that he motivates me. i believe that things happen for a reason. and in fact, i told larry this. i told him. there's a reason why we met. i don't know what the reasons are, but i'm here for you. keith morrison (voiceover): so after meeting with larry,

chief perry sent sandra's file to a couple of friends in honolulu, investigators with the state attorney general's cold case unit. i asked them to see if they can find anything else that we may have missed. keith morrison (voiceover): and they did, indeed, find something, using what was breakthrough science for that time, early 2009. cold case investigators extracted touch dna from sandra's shirt and bra. chief perry called larry with the news. and he said they got something. they re-scanned her clothes. and they found two-- how did he put it-- two microscopic particles of a male origin. sometimes it's what you find, and sometimes it's what you don't. andrea canning (voiceover): coming up. you know, going through the calendar, what i found really interesting is that it's pretty detailed from january 1st all the way up until the 24th. andrea canning (voiceover): but on the morning of sandra's murder-- we had nothing.

andrea canning (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. ♪♪ stay ahead of your moderate-to-severe eczema. and show off clearer skin and less itch with dupixent, the #1 prescribed biologic by dermatologists and allergists, that helps heal your skin from within. serious allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems such as eye pain or vision changes including blurred vision, joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines without talking to your doctor. ask your eczema specialist about dupixent.

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