been following for nearly ten years. >> how? when? >> i got a call from her boss, said that she hadn't showed up for work. >> they found her in the car. >> i saw on the back of her neck, some ligature marks. >> she just didn't deserve that. >> a small island. a small pool of suspects. ryan, her lover with a past. >> i had no idea he was a drug dealer. >> and darren, the soon-to-be-ex-husband. >> that morning, he called in sick. >> was darren polygraphed? >> he didn't pass. >> and the lover? >> he didn't do that good either. >> without much else to go on, this case was growing colder by the day. >> nothing, just nothing happens. >> but a father doesn't forget. >> i have to have justice for my daughter. >> after all these years, are there still secrets to uncover? >> it's been quite a journey for you? >> it isn't over yet. >> just days ago he finally got an answer. but is it the one he wanted? >> never in my wildest dreams would i imagine what we're going through now. hello and welcome to "dateline." sandra 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." 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. >> so, i really appreciate it. >> anything we can do. >> we're, uh -- >> it takes time, bro. >> we hope -- we hope to get an arrest this year. that's how close we are. we're 90% there. >> okay. it's all good. >> we first came upon larry mendonca while 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 three years -- it's still rough. >> 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. >> 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 st. catherine's school with friends alma umala and joanie morita. when people ask you, what was sandy like, you'd tell them? >> she was -- absolutely a go-getter, like she was teacher's pet. >> oh, really? >> always was perfect. she always had her hair nicely done. you know, she was always focused. >> in high school, sandra was an athlete, a cheerleader, and very popular. >> she was the complete package. >> and her home life? >> an old-fashioned, traditional -- >> traditional family, you know, catholic, play by the rules type of people, yeah. >> 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. >> 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. >> 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. >> 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. >> 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. >> 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. >> 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, you know, subdued. and then, as soon as she got away from darren, you know, she was, like, cut her hair in a bob and it was really cute and stylish all of a sudden. >> 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. >> so he wined and dined her and, you know, took really good care of her and he was -- i mean, he was really nice to her. and they were always, you know, doing all kinds of fabulous things. >> going on honolulu shopping trips, for instance, where ryan would lavish expensive gifts on sandra, like luis vuitton luggage. larry and sandra's mom, toshie, knew little of this relationship, and on january 25th, 2006, were in dallas visiting their son when they got an odd call from sandra's boss. >> he said that she hadn't showed up for work, very unusual for her. >> hours later the phone rang again. it was 3:00 a.m. 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," you know, "hi, cousin. no!" coming up -- >> she was slumped to the right, to the passenger seat, facedown. >> who wanted sandra dead? >> from what we're told, he went ballistic. he just flipped out. >> when "dateline" continues. i s managing my moderate to severe crohn's disease. then i realized something was missing... ...me. my symptoms were keeping me from being there for her. so, i talked to my doctor and learned humira is the #1 prescribed biologic for people with crohn's disease. humira helps people achieve remission that can last. and the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief in as little as 4 weeks. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. be there for you, and them. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible. learn how abbvie could help you save on humira. ♪ ♪ before you go there, or fist bump there, or... oh! i can't wait to go there! or reunite there, start here. walgreens makes it easy to stay protected wherever you go. schedule your free flu shot and covid-19 vaccine today. moving is a handful. wherever you go. no kidding! fortunately, xfinity makes moving easy. easy? -easy? switch your xfinity services to your new address online in about a minute. that was easy. i know, right? and even save with special offers just for movers. really? yep! so while you handle that, you can keep your internet and all those shows you love, and save money while you're at it with special offers just for movers at xfinity.com/moving. 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. >> roy asher was one of the original investigators. we spoke to him in 2009. this was three years after sandra was murdered. >> i saw the back of her neck, some ligature marks. we didn't find the cord itself. we have an idea of what -- what could've been used. >> what? >> a thin, thin cord, like a fishing line. >> 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'd been dead for awhile by then. >> probably eight to ten hours. >> which would've put the time of death about when? >> in the morning. >> could you get any more exact? >> no. >> 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. did he have an alibi? >> yes. >> and it checked out? >> yes. >> do you remember what it was? >> he was at work. >> 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. >> and based simply on that lack of an alibi, the police arrested darren. >> when they first said, do you think her husband could have done it, my first reaction was, no. >> but even as larry tried to wrap his mind around that idea, a detective called him the following day. >> and he says, we've got to let him go. we don't have enough. we've talked to the prosecuting attorney and we don't have enough. >> 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. >> as a native kauaian 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're told from his co-workers at the time, he went ballistic. 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 6:00 in the morning she would show up, pick them up, take them out for breakfast, get them ready for school and day care. 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. >> 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 10:00 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 narrowed down the time of death. before about 9:00, where she would have had to leave to make her appointment. >> 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. must have been darren who murdered sandra. >> right now i'm -- i'm driven by the case. i mean, i've got to get that guy. >> many of sandra's friends, like christa hall, also thought darren was guilty. >> i think everyone thought that darren would be arrested immediately and it would, you know, he'd be going to jail and the children would be going to the grandparents or her brother and everything was going to be okay. and exactly one year after the murder, there was, indeed an arrest. but it wasn't darren. >> coming up -- >> we have to get this case solved. >> a new theory about sandra's murder. >> she may have been smuggling drugs and not even known it. >> and a threat from her father. >> if i ever figure out a way to get away with it, it'll happen. >> when "dateline" continues. get ready. it's time for the savings event of the year. the homeandautobundle xtravafestasaveathon! at this homeandautobundle xtravafestasaveathon, there's no telling what we might bundle! homeandautobundle xtravafestasaveathon! bundle cars, trucks, colonials, bungalows, and that weird hut your uncle lives in. so strike up the homeandautobundle xtravafestasaveathon band for the deal that started forever ago and will probably never end. homeandautobundle xtravafestasaveathon. -say it with me. -homeandautobundle-- no one's leaving till you say it right. homeandauto... you said you'd never get a dog. no one's leaving till you say it right. you said you'd never do a lot of things. but you never knew what a dog could do for you. and with resolve, you never worry about the mess. love the love, resolve the mess. 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[ eerie music playing ] and nearly 60 years of quality coverage trick or treat! ♪ ♪ he is coming for me... but i'm coming for him. happy halloween michael. 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 even -- 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 known it, you know? >> and the final act to that story? sandra had 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 driving by here knowing that he's still running free. we've -- we've got to get this case solved. >> on this day, larry, and sandra's mom, toshie, 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, cherene, 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 figure out a way to get away with it, it'll happen. >> fortunately the arrival of a new kauai police chief put his plans on hold. darryl perry, a 30-year veteran of the honolulu p.d. agreed to meet with larry and listen to his theories about the case. >> and 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. >> so what'd you do next? >> we went to her gravesite. we stood there. and, um -- >> what were you thinking about? >> oh. 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. >> 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. >> 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. >> 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 rescanned 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. coming up -- >> going through the calendar, what i found really interesting it's pretty detailed from january 1st all the way up until the 24th. >> but on the morning of sandra's murder -- >> you've got nothing. >> when "dateline" continues. dog barks you're right bunker, the medicare enrollment deadline is almost here. if you're on medicare and you want to explore your options, the deadline to enroll is december 7th. so, you should act now. where do i find the right medicare plan? at healthmarkets, they search many of the nation's most recognized carriers so they can help you find the right plan, at the right price that's the right fit for you. how long does it take? you could find a medicare plan in just minutes. my current plan only covers 80% of my costs. well, healthmarkets may find plans that cover the rest ... let you keep your doctor with benefits like zero dollar copays, zero dollar deductibles and zero dollar monthly premiums. they'll even search plans with prescription drug coverage, vision, dental and hearing aids. you may even qualify for free gym memberships! so call or visit healthmarkets today to see if your current plan is the right fit for you or, you may find a plan that can help save you money. healthmarkets sounds great! how much does it cost? 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>> we got him. >> but larry was wary. >> it isn't over yet. >> because what seemed like great evidence to the cops did not to the newly elected prosecuting attorney shaylene iseri, for one simple reason. the dna did not exclusively match darren. >> it could have come from the two children. >> larry, though, refused to be discouraged. >> the driving force is to get this case solved, and put my daughter to rest. >> because she isn't yet? >> hopefully it'll be this year. hopefully it'll be 2009. we're close. >> but 2009 ended as it had begun, with the case in stasis. no breaks. no leads. no arrests. and 2010 was no different. same for 2011, nothing. it's fair to say sandra's murder investigation was very much cold. so, 2012 now, six years after the murder. and three years after that dna test, chief perry gave the case to a new detective named bryson ponce who re-examined the physical evidence, like sandra's car, undisturbed since the day she was murdered. >> she was sitting down in the driver's seat. and the -- from her waist up, was pulled, slouched over onto the passenger's seat. >> you said pulled? did it appear that it had been yanked over that way? >> it appeared that way, yeah. we believe that there was a struggle outside of the vehicle in the garage. and that's due to some evidence that was on the outside front of the vehicle. >> like what? what were they? >> um, smudge marks, some hair. >> when you look at how this homicide happened, it wasn't sexually motivated or it wasn't a robbery. it really was focused on anger. >> and so ponce circled right back to those original two suspects. husband, darren, boyfriend, ryan. but which one? from the file, ponce learned ryan, in addition to being a drug trafficker, had also been convicted of domestic violence. and was there something fishy about how he found sandra's body? he told the cops he went to sandra's house, doors were locked. said he peered through these ventilation slats at the base of the garage wall. said he saw sandra in her car. >> and calling out, sandra, sandra, then he says that he couldn't get into the door. he called a friend to come and help him open the door. >> called a friend to help him find a body? wouldn't be the first time a guilty party did that. >> and did ryan remain here at the scene, wait for the police officers? >> yeah. >> and talk to them there? >> yeah. >> was there anything in the report about his demeanor that night? >> you know, initially investigators thought that maybe he wasn't saying everything that happened and -- >> yeah. and he's -- >> you know. >> holding back a little. >> yeah. and maybe he was a little bit nervous. >> but ryan had an alibi, right? he was at work when sandra was killed. well, ponce found out the estimated time of sandra's death was really more of a rough guess. and that sandra could just as well have been murdered hours earlier, when ryan wasn't at work. and then there were the results from ryan's 2006 polygraph exam. what was the result of that? >> he wasn't viewed as passed. >> which didn't look good for ryan. except, darren's polygraph result didn't look so great, either. >> how'd he do? >> he didn't do that good. he didn't pass. >> now that was interesting. both suspects failed the polygraph. so now ponce looked at the evidence against darren. who gave police two entirely different accounts of the morning of the murder. first he said sandra came by to get the kids, then a minute later said she didn't. now remember, darren and sandra were going through a divorce and a heated child custody battle. so, darren apparently thought it would be a good idea to take note of run-ins with sandra, like the times she was late in picking up the boys, hoping it would one day help him in court. >> you know, going through the calendar, what i found really interesting is that it's pretty detailed from january 1st every day, all the way up until the 24th, is the very last entry. and on the 25th, you've got nothing. >> why is that important? because sandra was murdered that very morning, the morning of the 25th. about the time when she would have been picking up her sons. >> you would expect darren to have wrote down in there that sandra never showed up to pick up the boys, that he had to take off from work. >> but he didn't. nor did he call her to find out why she was a no-show. ponce theorized that sandra actually did go to darren's house to get the boys. but there was an argument of some sort and she left without them. darren, still angry, followed her home. parking his truck on a street behind sandra's cul-de-sac. >> this path, you know, basically leads to the cul-de-sac. and her house is just three houses down. right when you come to the end of this walkway, very, very close, easy access. >> so you think that darren came up, followed her, had the confrontation there, killed her with a ligature, choked her to death. then what'd he do? >> you know, i think after the the incident happened over here, he went back as where he came and just took off and headed back home. >> and nobody saw him. >> you know, it was still dark. >> ponce also found this email sandra sent her lawyer just three weeks before her murder. >> darren started asking me about my boyfriend, as he calls him, ryan. he got really upset and started swearing at me. he started shaking me telling me to tell him the truth and don't ever call him again. >> ponce worked the investigation for close to a year. and as he weighed and reweighed the evidence, he always came back to darren. who lacked an alibi. who called in sick to work. who gave conflicting accounts about the morning the of the murder. who left blank the diary entry for the 25th. who failed a polygraph. who was jealous of ryan. who never called sandy to find out why she didn't pick up the boys. ponce delivered his final report to chief perry, and prosecutor iseri, and a handful of fellow investigators. >> we all believed it was proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the case was not going to get any better than what we had. >> and prosecutor iseri finally agreed to present the case to a grand jury. and in october 2012, the grand jury indicted darren for sandra's murder. so, was larry's quest for justice finally over? oh, no. not by a long shot. coming up -- >> this case is the textbook example of why you do not insert politics into people's lives. >> a new prosecutor, a new delay. >> kauai is a murderer's paradise. if you want to kill somebody, you have probably 80%, 90% of getting away with it. >> when "dateline" continues including the covid-19 virus, on more surfaces than lysol disinfectant spray. lysol. what it takes to protect. you've been taking mental health meds, and your mind is finally in a better place. except now you have uncontrollable body movements called tardive dyskinesia td. and it can seem like that's all people see. ♪ some meds for mental health can cause abnormal dopamine signaling in the brain. while how it works is not fully understood, ingrezza is thought to reduce that signaling. ingrezza is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with td movements in the face and body. people taking ingrezza can stay on their current dose of most mental health meds. don't take ingrezza if you're allergic to any of its ingredients. ingrezza may cause serious side effects, including sleepiness. don't drive, operate heavy machinery, or do other dangerous activities until you know how ingrezza affects you. other serious side effects include potential heart rhythm problems and abnormal movements. shift the focus more on you. ask your doctor about ingrezza. it's simple. one pill, once-daily. #1 prescribed for td. learn how you could pay as little as $0 at ingrezza.com now you see me. now you don't. now you see me. now you don't. now you see me. now you don't. we see you. so we designed our new no7 pure retinol range for your skin. informed by 15 years of scientific research; and formulated to be gentler to skin. powerfully targeting the appearance of dark spots, wrinkles, and boosting radiance. only from no7. on october 31, 2012, darren galas was charged with the murder of his wife, sandra. he pleaded not guilty, was released on bail. six and a half months later on may 15, 2013, sandra's dad, larry, and mom, toshie, held this memorial dedication service outside kauai's domestic violence center. chief perry was there as was bryson ponce. but darren stayed away as did sandra's two sons. >> as most of you know today is sandy's birthday. this is why it's a very, very special day for us. mahalo. >> at this point, larry and toshie thought they were in the home stretch, that darren's trial was just months away. but, the prosecuting attorney who indicted darren lost her bid for re-election. defeated by this man, justin kollar, who flat-out accused his predecessor of bringing charges against darren to make a splash and help her chances of re-election though the case, he said, wasn't ready for trial. >> this case is the textbook example of why you do not insert politics into people's lives. >> gotcha. >> and into their families'. >> so now larry's quest for justice was mired in a political battle with the new prosecutor saying he couldn't proceed because the alternate suspect, ryan shinjo, had never been completely eliminated. >> if you've got cases where you have multiple suspects and you're going to charge one of those suspects, you'd better be sure you've excluded the other suspects. >> former prosecutor shaylene iseri fired back, saying the entire investigative team voted to seek an indictment. >> the team decided unanimously. it wasn't shaylene's decision. it was the team's decision. i definitely feel that there was more than overwhelming evidence to convict mr. galas. >> you could've gotten that conviction had you been elected? >> oh, i definitely believe so. >> she's dreaming, said kollar. she never would have won. so kollar re-opened the investigation again. and delayed the trial again while his office tried to strengthen the case. and the result was one trial delay after another. and three years later, 2015 now, larry was one furious 74-year-old man. >> kauai is a murderer's paradise. if you want to kill somebody, come to kauai. and you've got probably about an 80%, 90% chance of getting away with it. and i firmly believe that. >> there was never any point during this process where the file was just sitting on a shelf getting dusty. there's always something that was being done, another piece of evidence that was being tested, another witness that was being looked for. >> but you must have been ready to let it go at some points. you know, we can't do this. let's forget about it. >> that conversation happened at any number of times over the years. but at each time, we said, no, there's got to be a way to move this forward. >> and was larry's kind of constant input part of the thing that kept you going here? >> of course. i mean, none of us wanted to get that call saying, hey, larry's -- larry wants to see you right away. and he's not happy. >> when we spoke to larry in 2015, darren's trial was on the calendar for march of the following year. and the odds larry gave of that happening? >> i would say probably a little better than 50/50. >> but even that was optimistic. the trial was delayed again until november 2016. but as that trial date approached, the defense requested another delay. and the judge granted it. and the case was continued to august 2017. and as that date approached, we looked back on what larry said to us in 2015. >> some day this is going to end, you know? one way or another. and maybe i can rest a little bit. >> early in the morning of the 14th of february 2017, larry mendonca, age 75, went out to play a round of golf. wasn't feeling well. called his son, lawrence, in texas. >> and told me he was having a heart attack. and he was going to the emergency room. >> what was that like? >> it was -- it was pretty intense. but, being as stubborn as my dad is, you know, oh, don't worry about it. i'll be fine. they're just going to put a stent in me. i'll be fine. i don't think he knew the magnitude of the situation at the time. coming up -- a father fights for his life. >> to see him in that hospital bed, it was tough. very tough. >> what will happen to his fight for justice? >> it's all about what you can prove in a court of law. >> when "dateline" continues. forty percent of people with type 2 diabetes will develop chronic kidney disease, or ckd. did you know ckd can lead to kidney failure and dialysis? kidney alert! ckd often has no symptoms until it's too late! help protect your kidneys. call your doctor for a uacr test. it shows one of the earliest signs for ckd. visit kidneyalert.com! in 2016, i was working at the amazon warehouse when my brother passed away. and a couple of years later, my mother passed away. after taking care of them, i knew that i really wanted to become a nurse. amazon helped me with training and tuition. today, i'm a medical assistant and i'm studying to become a registered nurse. in filipino: you'll always be in my heart. the airport can be a real challenge for new homeowners who have become their parents... okay, everybody, let's do a ticket check. paper tickets. we're off to a horrible start. ...but we can overcome it. we're not gonna point out our houses, landmarks, or major highways during takeoff. don't buy anything. i packed so many delicious snacks. -they're -- -nope. would you say, ballpark, when group two is gonna get boarded? 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out and about. this time we found him at son austin's soccer game. that's him wearing the black t-shirt, gold chain, and wraparound sunglasses. and in the blue shirt, his wife, cherene. larry and his wife, toshie, were there at the soccer game, as well. always are. and what larry felt in his chest was more rage than physical pain. >> someday i might lose it all. i really don't know what i'm going to do. you never know until it happens. >> then, late 2017, a breakthrough. the prosecutor felt his investigators had finally and fully eliminated ryan as a suspect, which now only left darren in their sights. >> we had done some work over the years that had made the case somewhat better. maybe darren looked himself in the mirror and said, i know i did it. i don't know. >> hm. >> but they said, we'll plead. >> but plead guilty to murder? no. darren agreed to plead no contest to assault. >> you had a murder case here. no contest to assault sounds, like, not very bad. >> well, we may think we have a murder case. we may know that he did it. but it's all about what you can prove in a court of law. >> and on january 29th, 2018, 12 years after sandra's murder, we were with larry outside the courthouse, just an hour before the plea hearing. and as you might have guessed, he wasn't happy. >> there's no justice! >> what are the chances this thing could fall apart over there this morning? >> it's a possibility. he could -- i'm told he can change his mind at any given time, up to the time he gets sentenced. >> but what happened here -- >> now, drawing your attention to the no-contest plea form. >> as darren formally changed his plea from not guilty to murder two to no-contest to assault one was not final resolution but more delay. the court granted darren four more months of freedom before sentencing. and larry? well -- >> i'm very mad. i'm very upset. >> there was once a time, just after sandra's murder, when larry and toshie were hoping to raise sandra's boys. but now -- >> he's been working on them for 12 years. he's been brainwashing them. they hate their mother. they hate their grandparents. >> as he left court, darren was protected by a phalanx of friends and relatives, which included the two grandsons. darren declined to speak with us but his defense lawyer, michael green, did stop to talk. >> there's a big difference between pleading no contest and pleading guilty. >> well, it certainly would suggest he did something to her. >> well, he assaulted her. >> that very day? he didn't kill her? >> no, but he doesn't admit that he assaulted her. no contest means he neither admits nor denies the charges. >> but now for four months uncertainty. because the judge had the power to sentence darren to anything from ten years in prison to probation. >> what i foresee at sentencing, they're going to ask for leniency. >> do you think he could actually avoid going to prison altogether? >> at this point, i wouldn't put anything past him. >> on may 30th, 2018, we were back outside the courthouse with larry mendonca. this time he was the one surrounded by supporters. may 13, he was back n at the courthouse. this time he was surrounded by supporters. now reduced to just an hour in court that fest as intense as any jury trial. would darren be carted off to prison or would the judge give him probation or send him home. darren's lawyer reminded them was an alternate suspect. then he told the judge to remember this was not a murder case. >> there's an agreement that my client will plead guilty to nothing. nothing. he's offered to plead no contest to an assault charge. >> and then larry got his chance, finally, to let 12 years of pain pour out, starting with that first awful night when he broke the news to toshie. >> how do you tell a woman that the baby she had once nursed falling asleep in her arms, played on her lap, skipped off to school clutching the lunch she had made for her was now dead? we received a life sentence full of pain, sorrow, agony, and frustration. a life sentence with no parole. sandy got eternity. >> darren stoically sat through it all. and then, what sentence would the judge impose? she began by quoting darren's attorney. >> and that is that he pled no contest to the charge of assault in the first degree. that's what this sentencing is about. >> and larrry's stomach started to tighten. >> and my lawyer reached over and she says, this doesn't sound good. >> and then, six minutes into her ruling, finally, here it was. >> you are hereby ordered committed to the custody of the director of the department of public safety for imprisonment for a period of ten years. >> ten years. the maximum she could impose. and with that, the mendonca family's 12-year quest for justice came to an end. >> that was my graveyard promise to my daughter, and i fulfilled it. ♪♪ ♪ i believe that you'll always be in my heart ♪ >> larry and toshie follow a series of rituals on the anniversary of sandra's death. they bring flowers to her memorial outside the ywca. have lunch at the beach house restaurant where sandra once worked. >> you are my heart. >> and they pray by her graveside at holy cross cemetery, where she is surrounded by her ancestors. >> sandra, so home sic when away from this island she loved is nower from a part of it. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm natalie morales. thank you for watching. first up on msnbc, newly released detailed concerns before a scene became a deadly tragedy. how others are responding. new overnight, a vaccine for young children. >> i'm waiting

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