Dateline: The Other Side of Paradise - Complete timeline of the Sandra Galas case before new episode

Dateline: The Other Side of Paradise, which was released on NBC on Jun 15, 2018, covered the murder of Sandra Galas. Sandra was a 27-year-old woman from Kauai, Hawaii, who was found strangled to death in her car in 2005. Her death remained unsolved for more than a decade, but her father, Larry Mendonca, kept fighting for justice for his daughter.

Dateline will revisit the case on August 28, 2026, and before you watch the new episode, here is a complete timeline of the Sandra Galas case.

Dateline: The Other Side of Paradise revealed how Sandra Galas' murder was solved after 12 years

Sandra Galas was born in Japan to Larry and Toshie Mendonca and then raised in Kauai, Hawaii. In 1999, Sandra got married to Darren Galas, and they had two sons, Austin and Brayden. Everything was going alright until 2005, when the couple separated due to Darren's infidelity.

Sandra had begun dating a local chef, Ryan Shinjo, after she separated from Darren. At the time of Sandra's death, they were still legally married due to a contested divorce and child custody issues.

What looked like just separation soon turned into a murder that would go unsolved for 12 years. Here is a complete timeline of the case:

January 25, 2006: The death

As claimed by Sandra's husband, Darren, during the primary investigation, Sandra was on her way to pick up their sons on January 25, 2006, but never arrived. She was instead found strangled to death in her car in her own garage that day. As Dateline reported, Sandra had suffered severe blunt-force trauma to the head and was strangled with a cord-like object.

2006: Early Investigation

After initial investigation, the police considered Darren Galas and Sandra's boyfriend, Ryan Shinjo, to be primary suspects. However, since there wasn't any evidence to charge either man, they were both released. Upon Sandra's death, Darren received complete custody of their two sons.

2008: Darren's DNA Identified

As Dateline reported, two years after Sandra's death, investigators found Darren's DNA on the blouse and bra Sandra was wearing when she had passed away. However, since Darren and Sandra were still legally married at the time, prosecutors were of the opinion that the DNA alone was not enough evidence to convict Darren of murder. Thus, the case went cold for years.

2012 October: Case reopened

In October of 2012, the case was reopened when investigators revisited evidence. In 2012, they found letters Sandra had sent her divorce attorney in which she had expressed that she was scared of Darren. Darren was thus indicted with the second-degree murder of Sandra Galas and released on a bail of $1 million.

As Dateline revealed, investigators had also discovered that Darren used to keep a daily logbook where he used to document every time Sandra disappointed or upset him. Interestingly, the logbook had no entries on the day Sandra died, which further suggested that he was the one who killed her.

January - June 2018: Darren pleads guilty

Some time before he was supposed to face trial, Darren accepted a plea deal. In January 2018, Darren pleaded no contest to first-degree assault. In June 2018, Darren Galas was sentenced to the maximum term of 10 years and minimum term of 8.5 years in prison for first-degree assault and ordered to pay over $13,000 in restitution charges.

March 2022: Darren's sentence reduced

In March of 2022, the Hawaii Parole system reduced Darren's minimum term required to serve in prison of 8.5 years by six months to 8 years.

A new Dateline episode on the Sandra Galas case will be released on NBC on August 28, 2026, at 10 pm ET.

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