November 14, 2024 • 34 mins
Lisa Au was a 19-year-old hairdresser from Oahu, Hawaii, who disappeared in January 1982. She was driving home in the rain after meeting with her boyfriend, Doug Holmes. By the next day, she had not returned home, and her car was found abandoned on the road home. Ten days later her body was discovered, and police looked into various suspects, including Doug and one of their own. Join us as we dive into the different suspects and theorize how Lisa was kidnapped from her car.
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Episode Transcript
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D (00:00):
Hey guys, welcome to the Eerie Side Podcast with your
host D,
Sophia (00:04):
Sophia, and Elena.
D (00:06):
We appreciate you guys listening and I hope you are
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(00:45):
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I have a story today about LisaAu, who was 19 years old and was
living in Oahu, Hawaii in 1982.
(01:28):
She had her whole life ahead ofher, and she was excited for her
future.
She had just gotten her driver'slicense on January 18th of 1982.
And then a few days later, shevanished.
Lisa Au was born on July 25th of1962 to parents Chester Dennis
Au, and Patrice.
(01:49):
Lisa had a rich culturalheritage from each of her
parents, Chinese on her father'sside and Hawaiian on her
mother's.
She had long, wavy black hairand worked as a hairdresser.
According to everyone, herroommate, family, friends, she
was hardworking, responsible,conscientious, and a careful
person.
(02:09):
On January 20, 1982, Lisa wasworking at the Susan Beers Salon
in Kailua a of the Oahu Islandin Hawaii.
When she was finished working,it was pouring in Oahu.
flooding rains actually thatnight.
She was procrastinating leavingthe building, hoping to wait out
(02:31):
the downpour.
Eventually she headed out thedoor in the bad weather.
She told her co-workers she wasgoing to go see her boyfriend,
Doug Holmes, at his sister'sapartment in Makiki, which was
30 minutes away.
They didn't notice anything outof the ordinary when speaking
with Lisa that night.
She was just as steadfast andfriendly as always.
(02:54):
On her way to the visit, shestopped to buy poke for the
occasion.
She got to the apartment and thethree of them spent the evening
together.
At around 1245 a.
m., Lisa and Doug left theapartment and went downstairs
where were both parked and theysaid goodnight to each other.
Doug claims that was the lasttime he saw her.
(03:16):
Lisa had also called herroommate to tell her she was on
her way home.
Her roommate went to bed knowingthat it would take Lisa at least
30 minutes to come home.
When her roommate woke up, Lisawasn't there.
She wasn't too concerned becauseshe thought maybe she didn't
come home because of the rainand her being a new driver.
She worked with Lisa at the samesalon and thought she would see
(03:38):
her there.
Her roommate gets to work andLisa doesn't show up, so her
roommate calls her parents totell them that she hasn't seen
Lisa.
She was hoping that maybe shehad gone to someone's home that
night due to the weather.
However, she never arrived toher parents house that night or
any other family members.
Worried, Lisa's parents calledDoug the next morning at his
(04:00):
University of Hawaii dorm.
He told them that he didn't knowanything about where Lisa was.
He also told them that he willgo out looking for her, because
Doug was afraid that she mayhave gotten into a traffic
accident since it had beenstorming the previous evening.
Well, he found Lisa's car.
When he did, Doug called policeto report he'd found her car.
(04:22):
A 1976 Toyota was parked on theshoulder of Highway Maunawili
near the old Kailua Drive-in.
The officer who arrived noticedthat the window was down about
two, three inches and the rainhad come into the car and soaked
it.
The driver's seat was drenched.
The officer expressed concernthat her purse may have been
(04:46):
placed on the seat after thetorrential rain had stopped.
On the wet seat, lay Lisa'spurse, which was dry, the
policeman said, while Lisa'skeys and wallet were inside the
purse, her license and hervehicle registration were both
missing.
He also reported seeingscratches on Doug's face.
(05:09):
Crime scene technicians wouldlater determine that Lisa's car
had been wiped clean of anyevidence.
Sophia (05:17):
Where exactly was Lisa's car in relation to Doug's
apartment and her own apartment?
D (05:22):
Her car was farther away from Doug's apartment.
She was somewhere in betweengetting home.
I don't remember how manyminutes but she was 30 minutes
away like from Doug's more orless apartment.
Doug's apartment was close tohis sister's apartment.
Sophia (05:37):
Did it seem like she was on the way home or no, it was
just somewhere in between Doug'sand her apartment.
D (05:43):
It did look like she was on her way home.
Sophia (05:46):
And you said she was at Doug's apartment.
But there were three peopleherself, Doug and who was the
third person?
D (05:52):
Doug's sister.
They went to Doug's sister'sapartment for the evening
Sophia (05:55):
Okay.
D (05:56):
That was one of the first indications that something bad
may have happened to her.
If she had car trouble and got aride with someone, why would she
have left her purse?
And why was her purse dry, buteverything else was soaked wet
from the rain that night?
Her father said that he justbought her the 1976 Toyota,
(06:18):
which he had out and it was allright and it didn't appear to be
in need of repair.
Word quickly spread of Lisa'sdisappearance and thousands of
flyers were distributed islandwide as her friends and family
hoped, against hope, that shewill be found alive.
In interviews with the media,Lisa's family struggled to thank
(06:39):
the hundreds of volunteerssearching for their daughter.
"Thank you is not enough", saidher exhausted mother, holding
back tears.
Everybody wanted to help somuch.
The support has just been great.
The search would go on for 10grueling days.
On January 31st of 1982, ajogger with his dog stumbled
(07:01):
upon Lisa's nude body in aravine off Tantalus Drive in
Makiki.
She was found about 40 feet downan embankment and witnesses at
the scene claimed she wasfacedown in tall grass as if she
had been dumped from the side ofthe road.
It was impossible to getfingerprints from her body, and
(07:22):
that they ultimately had to usedental records.
Local reports also stated thatLisa's high school ring, which
had her initials engraved in it,was on her hand, when she was
discovered was crucial for heridentification.
Her body was decomposed to thepoint where it was not possible
to identify the cause of death.
(07:44):
So to this day, they don't knowhow Lisa died.
Several theories have emergedthat she was on her way home
when she was stopped andabducted from the Kailua
location, or that she was killedelsewhere and the vehicle was
staged in Kailua to make it looklike that's where she was
stopped.
Days after Lisa's body wasfound, homicide detectives had
(08:08):
to figure out who was thesuspect.
One suspect was one of theirown.
The reason for this was awitness later recalled seeing a
vehicle behind Lisa andfollowing her and that vehicle
had blue flashing lights on thegrill, leading to the
speculation she had been stoppedby a police officer or someone
(08:29):
posing as one.
Unfortunately, their theorybecame public, causing an island
wide panic.
Women feared that a policemanwas pulling over women to attack
them.
Now, here is why the policethought that either a policeman
or someone posing as one mayhave been involved in Lisa's
murder.
(08:49):
Lisa's license was missing fromher purse and her car window
rolled down half way.
In their minds, it meant she waspulled over and passed the
license to the officer and evenher car registration.
Sophia (09:05):
Oh my gosh.
Oh yeah.
I feel like that's, it's not setup just like that.
D (09:10):
And both of those forms of identification are missing.
Elena (09:13):
Interesting.
D (09:15):
After the suspected officer name leaked out, another woman
from the Windward side claimedhe had pulled her over and that
he'd used blue lights on hisunmarked car.
The woman had a sex harassmentcomplaint against him because of
what had occurred during apolice ride along.
(09:36):
Another reason the policefocused on this policeman was
that he also lived near Lisa'shome.
Police lights like these wereeventually taken off police cars
in the wake of Lisa's case.
The department even sought toreassure women that they didn't
have to stop for unmarked policecars and eventually the Hawaii
(09:58):
police department bannedflashing lights on car grills
altogether.
Sophia (10:03):
On car grills?
D (10:04):
Right.
Elena (10:04):
Like the front of the cars?
D (10:06):
They were hidden.
You know how unmarked cars?
That's what they were talkingabout.
Because they were unmarked cars.
Elena (10:10):
So they couldn't be hidden, basically.
D (10:12):
They didn't allow that anymore.
Elena (10:14):
That's smart.
D (10:15):
After Lisa's murder, they received a rash of reports by
women claiming they were stoppedby men posing as police officers
by flashing blue lightsotherwise hidden behind their
car grills.
In the meantime, investigatorscontinue their focus on the
police officer.
The mass panic over policeofficers may have pushed the
(10:37):
department to continue withtheir investigation into one
officer and even convene a grandjury based on their evidence.
While prosecutors were unable tosecure an indictment because of
the lack of evidence.
One detective who worked thecase said that the grand jury
proceeding was a waste of timeand he contends the push to go
(10:59):
after a police officer was alldue to the intense public
pressure for an arrest.
When the grand jury failed toindict the officer, the
detective said it tainted thecase, exposed mistakes the
detectives had made, and thatdiscouraged other prosecutors
from trying again.
He argued that a shoddyinvestigation closed the door on
(11:22):
evidence against others.
This detective found evidencethat seemed to debunk the killer
cop theory.
They had formulated prematureconclusions and he added that
they jumped on any clue thatpointed to the police officer's
involvement.
Remember Lisa's missing driver'slicense?
(11:42):
It's absence was an importantclue that a police officer
stopped Lisa that night.
This detective though found itmonths later when he was
retracing Lisa's movements.
It turns out after she left thehair salon, which was around
9:45 p.
m.
and stopped to buy poke.
(12:03):
She showed her ID to write acheck and forgot it at the
store.
Elena (12:08):
Oh, okay.
So that's what happened to it.
Sophia (12:11):
But what about her vehicle registration?
D (12:13):
Nothing comes up on that.
Maybe she had that with her andwhen she left her driver's
license, maybe it was stuck inwhatever.
I do not know.
I looked at a lot of articlesand no one talks about the
vehicle registration.
Sophia (12:26):
Well, even so, A cop still could have stopped her
that night and asked for herdriver's license and vehicle
registration.
She just may not have had thedriver's license at least.
D (12:37):
Correct, but they did find the driver's license.
Sophia (12:40):
And that does weaken the policeman theory, I will say.
D (12:45):
Correct.
Elena (12:46):
I would agree.
D (12:47):
After, the detective found this discovery, the I.
D.
was turned over to the police.
He said that he knew then thatLisa was not pulled over by an
officer.
To this day, many still believeit was a police officer who
killed Lisa.
By 1985, three years afterLisa's death, the lead detective
(13:08):
on the case was Nelson Lum.
He wrote in a sworn statementthat his massive and extensive
investigation into Lisa's deathhad produced no evidence against
a city employee acting withinthe course of their employment.
In other words, a police officerdidn't kill Lisa.
The admission showed that theHawaii Police Department lead
(13:31):
suspect in the case for yearswas an innocent man.
Lum also said there was actuallyno direct evidence as to who
caused the death of Lisa.
But he said that there were oneor more suspects in the case.
Now let's look at Doug.
He denied he had anything to dowith Lisa's death.
Doug told police he saidgoodnight to Lisa in her car and
(13:54):
did not actually see her driveaway.
This detective, who's beenfinding all this stuff, also
found a security guard at theMakiki Apartment building where
Doug's Holmes sister lived, andwhere Lisa was last seen alive.
He told the police he saw thecouple arguing about 11 p.m.
(14:14):
The guard reported that Dougthen drove off after Lisa left.
Doug told the police he had goneback his University of Hawaii
dorm room.
In a recorded interview, Dougacknowledged that he knew he was
one of the suspects.
Court documents show Doug evenagreed to two lie detector tests
(14:36):
and he failed them both.
Elena (14:38):
What?
Really?
D (14:40):
Correct.
He had an explanation though.
That he felt guilty for notdriving Lisa home in the heavy
rain because she was aninexperienced driver.
And in a sworn statement, Lumsaid that the explanation was
good enough for him.
And he didn't have any otherreason to suspect Doug.
(15:00):
Why didn't he suspect Doug?
Because he didn't think Doug hadany motive to kill Lisa.
Lum said that there was no thirdparty involvement, which ruled
out jealousy, which means no onewas having an affair, that there
was no money involved.
There was no baby coming.
There were no reason for him todo it, but Lum said Doug
(15:23):
admitted he was trying to endthe relationship.
Saying he was going to college,being educated.
While Lisa was more or lessstaying still education-wise.
Sophia (15:35):
Who said that?
Doug said that.
D (15:37):
Doug said that about Lisa.
Sophia (15:39):
Doug said that he said that?
About him?
Well if he says that he's goingto break up with her, then why
does he need to murder her?
D (15:46):
I have no idea.
But do remember, he did havescratches on his face.
Sophia (15:50):
That is very suspicious.
D (15:53):
So I do not know what that means.
Elena (15:55):
And he was able to find her car when no one else was.
They weren't really looking,though.
D (16:00):
He just retraced how she would have gone home from his
sister's house.
that is what he is saying.
Elena (16:08):
Okay.
Sophia (16:09):
Was it common knowledge at that point that there were
policemen or somebody whoappeared like policemen who were
pulling women over?
D (16:18):
Nothing was known to the public.
There was a few women I thinkwho had complained, but nothing
was known to the public untilLisa's disappearance.
And then the whole island knewabout it.
Sophia (16:30):
Definitely, if she lost her driver's license,
potentially her vehicleregistration, that could make it
seem like there was policeinvolvement, and potentially
there wasn't.
D (16:40):
Well, the policeman that they talked about hadn't killed
anyone.
He just stopped them and actedmaybe inappropriately, so I do
not know.
Meanwhile, if you guys want toknow what Doug is up to, he's
living in Australia.
According to his LinkedIn page,he's attended UH, which is the
University of Hawaii, and then acollege in Melbourne, where he
(17:02):
remains.
He's an executive with aninvestment firm.
In 2019, he said Lisa and hermemory deserve justice and it's
good to hear that the HawaiiPolice Department now has a cold
case squad.
Sophia (17:17):
I don't know what I think about that or how I feel.
Elena (17:20):
Yeah, that's.
D (17:22):
Well, he cannot be touched.
He is in Australia.
Sophia (17:24):
Say, Hawaii would say, okay, we want to arrest him.
We have a warrant out for hisarrest.
Would Australia expedite himback to the U.
S.
or no?
D (17:32):
Actually, I'm not sure.
They may and they may not.
He probably is a citizen of,Australia at this point.
Sophia (17:38):
Yeah, I think certain countries have different rules
on their expedite.
D (17:42):
That is correct.
Now there is another witness,Charlotte Kamaka.
She was a newspaper deliverydriver.
She later testified before thegrand jury about what she saw on
Tantalus in the hours after Lisawent missing.
She said she was on her regularroute around 2:30 a.m.
(18:05):
In the police record, she said aman drove past her in a blue car
with a female passenger whoappeared to be asleep or
unconscious.
What alerted me was her headfell", she said.
"When the car made a turn, herhead just fell".
The way this person was sittingnext to the gentleman who was
driving was unusual to her whenher head just fell.
Sophia (18:27):
It's like she's a dummy, almost.
D (18:29):
Yes.
Later, she said she got a goodlook at the driver as she turned
around in a paved lookout.
She said when the car made theturn, he just stopped and stared
at her.
After Lisa's body was found inthe same area, 10 days later,
Kamaka went to the policestation to report what she saw.
(18:51):
She said the detective wrotedown information, on how to
contact her, but she was nevercalled back.
She kept contacting the policeanyways to see what they were
doing.
Her questions went nowhere.
Well, they probably didn't goanywhere because they thought it
was the policeman.
Sophia (19:08):
And what color car did Doug have?
D (19:11):
I wish I knew.
I wondered that too.
Sophia (19:14):
I feel like there's a lot of evidence that should have
been easily Findable?
I don't know if that's the word.
D (19:20):
I don't think they were putting the pieces together
because I think they were stuckon that policeman.
Elena (19:24):
Yeah.
Sophia (19:25):
It's actually interesting that the police
would be stuck on the policemantheory because
Elena (19:30):
That's one of their own.
Sophia (19:31):
I wouldn't have been surprised if they had overlooked
that, so that is interesting.
They were so focused on it.
D (19:38):
You will see how focused they were.
One key clue in the case withLisa's car, which broke down in
Maunawili, near a mudslide thathappened during those torrential
rains.
Officer Michael Rehfeldt wasdirecting traffic.
and says he didn't rememberseeing Lisa's Toyota.
But months later, he was askedto tell the grand jury that he
(20:01):
did and report that he saw theat the car.
Rehfeldt said he refused to lieand never testified.
Elena (20:11):
Wow, that's crazy that they would go so far as having
someone lie.
For this like policeman theory.
D (20:18):
They were really stuck with that.
More than a year after Lisa waskilled, her body was exhumed.
By the time Lisa's body wasexhumed, it was believed that
Honolulu coroner did not do athorough job on the first
autopsy.
They were right.
When the body was exhumed,investigators learned her
remains were still in the policebody bag.
Elena (20:39):
Wow.
D (20:40):
He was also appalled to learn that there were still leaves.
and dirt and rubbish inside.
The body was never even washed.
The medical examiner was prettyred faced and embarrassed when
all the details were revealed.
A second opinion was sought bythe Los Angeles coroner who took
(21:02):
a look at the scar and jaw bone.
The result of the exam was nevermade public, but the coroner did
say that advanced decompositionmeant making any conclusions
would be very difficult.
Forensic anthropologist RobertMann of the University of
Hawaii, said a human skull canprovide so many clues, but a
(21:22):
less experienced examiner couldeasily miss the signs.
There's so much that you cantell from the skull that you
can't tell from the neck down,said a Mann.
If you miss that one littlemark, that one little indicator
of possibly cause of death,you're going to go we don't have
any evidence of what that persondied of, but it's there.
(21:44):
So you have to be very careful.
Mann of the University of Hawaiisaid he'd be willing to take
another look.
That is, if he could access it.
The problem, there is somedispute about where the skull
and jawbone are now.
The Honolulu Police Departmentsays they're in the hands of the
medical examiner officer, butthe medical examiner says they
(22:06):
were returned to the casket withthe rest of the remains.
Lisa's family wonders if theitems were indeed returned.
The only way to be sure would beto disturb her grave again.
Despite the painful process,Lisa's family will be asking the
Hawaiian police department to doit again, and re-examine her
(22:26):
remains.
They want to know if time,technology, and better skilled
forensic anthropologists canfinally determine how she died.
To this day, there have been noarrests in connection with
Lisa's murder, and her parentsboth have died without knowing
what happened to their daughter.
Sophia (22:43):
I was wondering when I first heard about the body,
whether it was really examinedto the fullest, and I'm not
surprised that the second timeit was examined that they kept
some information to themselvesand I think that's probably a
good thing and I hope that meansthey know something so that if
there ever is somebody, asuspect, a person of interest
(23:04):
making a claim they canbacktrack it up with the
evidence that they have.
Elena (23:08):
I definitely think that's possibly a good sign.
I think we'll just have to waitand see, especially with this
next, attempt to, search for newevidence.
Hopefully that they can findstuff That they've missed in the
past.
It's just crazy to me to see howsomeone could just bury her in
such like a disrespectful way isvery hurtful for her and for her
(23:29):
family.
And just to not have thatrespect was also just really sad
to hear.
D (23:34):
I actually couldn't understand since this was a
murder case I know she wasreally decomposed badly.
However, I would have hopedthey'd have done an autopsy as
best as they could.
And it didn't even seem they didit when her body was still in
the body bag.
They picked her up And it wasdirty with debris, which means
(23:57):
they never did a thoroughautopsy.
Yes, she was degraded, but theyshould have been able to find
something.
I would have hoped.
Elena (24:03):
Right.
And especially given the factthat this is a murder case, you
have to make sure you preservethe body.
Right.
In case you ever have to go andlook in the future, that's just
common sense to bury it in apreserved way.
Sophia (24:18):
I had a feeling this had happened and from the moment you
told me about the body there wasjust something in my mind that I
immediately thought okay theydid not do a proper job
examining the body and maybeit's because it had been 10 days
Yet they did not know how shedied.
And I understand they may notunderstand how she died, but
there was no other evidence thatthey presented to say, okay, we
(24:41):
don't know how she died, butthis is what we did find with
the body.
And to me, it just felt a littlebit lacking.
D (24:48):
The thing is, if you do an autopsy, you can tell if she was
killed.
Within you know the those hoursbecause you know there would be
bugs around her and you knowWhat stages of the bugs are.
I know it's ten days, but someof the bugs go fast.
You know they light lay theireggs, and they come out and all
that so I, and I know in Hawaii,the weather's goes fast, but
(25:11):
they didn't seem to even do thatbecause I think it sounds to me,
they just assume that she diedwithin so many hours and thrown.
But they didn't even do apresentation of, they found so
many bugs or so many cases oftheir bugs around her that they
could figure out that, she haddied.
I just don't understand.
It was just kinda, anafterthought about her.
Elena (25:33):
My question is why do you think that they treated this
case like this mom?
Because I was wondering do youthink it was just They didn't
know the correct things to do.
They didn't care.
They thought this was an openand shut case.
I'm just curious what youropinion is.
D (25:49):
Reading through it and listening to people talk, I
think the police thought, thatit was an open and shut case.
I think by the time they foundher, maybe they were assuming it
was a police officer or they'veheard something, or when the
witness said they saw a policeofficer following her.
So I think that's where it wentright away instead of really
(26:13):
researching everything andfinding out.
If this police officer is ontheir force, they can watch him.
They don't even have to let himbe in an unmarked car.
They can just put him somewhereand trust him to another
department or have him do anoffice job or something until
they can solve it.
So it just seemed they just wentone way and that was it.
(26:34):
And I just think they did adisservice to Lisa and her
family.
Elena (26:38):
Definitely.
It just is unfair, what they didto her and her family.
Sophia (26:42):
The entire time they handled this case, it just feels
like It's an afterthought, theway they handled the entire
case, and I think if they hadmaybe handled it differently we
would have a better sense of thedirection to, as to what
happened to her.
And now, I feel like if we wantto solve this case, I don't know
(27:05):
if there's any DNA or not, orany actual evidence, but if
there isn't, I think it's goingto take some sort of confession
to, get this rolling in theright direction?
D (27:15):
Unfortunately, I don't think they're going to be able to
solve it, to be honest with you,because they didn't take samples
or anything.
Look at how they found the body.
The other thing is, did they askquestions?
Did she have someone followingher?
Did someone come to her work andseem to make her feel
uncomfortable?
There were no such things askedbecause no one talks about it.
(27:37):
No one at the salon talks aboutit, her friend, her roommates,
nobody.
So it doesn't seem like theytook the questioning any
further.
The detective that did a lot ofresearch, I think he feels that
Doug played a role withoutsaying it.
But, true reality, you can'teven solve that right now.
Sophia (28:00):
But where did Doug get the scratches on his face, did
he ever say?
D (28:03):
No one asked him.
Elena (28:03):
Even to this day?
D (28:04):
What happened was, the policeman put it down that he
noticed them.
I'm not sure he asked him.
It's nowhere written that heasked him, and then it never
comes up.
Where did you get thesescratches?
And he failed the lie detectortwice.
Did he fail on every question?
Did he fail just on, about Lisa?
And I have no idea.
Sophia (28:27):
To me, it says a lot that he had scratches on his
face.
And of course, we know that liedetectors Cannot be relied upon
a hundred percent, right?
I wonder when Lisa when shecalled her friend I wonder if
her friend thought anythingsounded odd or it all sounded
normal because it's interesting.
She was on her way home.
She should have been there in 30minutes.
So what happened?
(28:49):
If it's potentially allegedlyDoug what would have happened to
her thinking she's on her wayhome to her having her life
taken away.
D (29:00):
Don't know.
I know her roommate didn't thinkanything of it That she said
she'd be there, so she wasn'tconcerned, That's why she went
to bed.
She wasn't concerned.
Even though Lisa was a newdriver.
I think, had faith that she'dmake it, because everybody was
saying, Oh, she was a newdriver, it's raining.
Well, new drivers drive in therain.
That's how they learn.
You just can't say, I'm notgoing to drive.
(29:20):
The thing is, did anyone followup?
go to his dorm?
Did anyone say, yeah, I saw himcoming?
maybe there weren't cameras backthen, but something.
I'm not even sure anyonefollowed up on Doug.
Elena (29:34):
Yeah.
D (29:34):
Except for that officer who found at least the guard who
said, well, they were arguingbecause Doug acted like nothing
was wrong that night.
Sophia (29:42):
Where were they arguing that they noticed?
D (29:45):
When they had come down around 11 for some reason, even
though they didn't leave toabout 12:40 a.m., but like
around 11 p.m., Doug and Lisawere downstairs and the guard, I
think they were downstairs orsomewhere around the apartments.
He saw them arguing.
Sophia (30:01):
And they were arguing at around 11, but they left at like
12:40.
D (30:05):
12:45 a.m.
They left, yes.
Sophia (30:08):
And where was Doug supposedly gonna go?
D (30:10):
Doug was gonna go to his dorm at the University of Hawaii.
And she was headed home.
Sophia (30:15):
Was, do we know at all if Lisa was pregnant or not?
D (30:18):
All I know was no.
Sophia (30:20):
Did they even check?
Can we even trust them?
D (30:21):
Well, they didn't even do an autopsy.
Sophia (30:23):
So she could have been pregnant for all we know.
D (30:25):
Maybe, I mean I have no way of knowing that.
Sophia (30:28):
And so I wish would Have been very relevant to the
investigation
D (30:32):
That would have been relevant, but Detective Lum
said, no pregnancy.
So how would he know now is thequestion.
Let's just say, okay, if theynever did a real thorough
autopsy, considering she was inthe bag, she was dirty with
leaves.
They didn't even clean her,which means they really didn't
do much of an autopsy.
Here's the thing, if a boyfriendSupposedly or allegedly may want
(30:54):
to kill her you have to thinkwhy especially if it's not In
the moment heat of the passionkill right, which it doesn't
seem like it was
Elena (31:01):
She left before him.
So wouldn't he had to wait forher to leave and then Go after
her and then somehow catch upwith her separately.
D (31:11):
Yes, maybe he knew she was driving slowly.
Maybe he just was morecomfortable driving in the rain,
went faster, I don't know.
Elena (31:18):
I guess that's what the people who believe Doug had a
part of this believe, right?
That she left before him.
D (31:24):
According to the guard, she left and then Doug left right
after that.
That's all the guard says.
Okay.
It could have been just a fewminutes.
He knew the way she was goinghome, because he found her.
Elena (31:36):
There was no sign of a crash or anything, right?
D (31:40):
No, so the car other than the window being open the car looked
okay.
That's why they thought at firstthat maybe the car had broken
down, but there was nothingwrong with the car.
Elena (31:53):
So how do people think that he got her to stop like
just somehow was just likeflashing his lights or
something?
D (31:59):
That's why they thought the policeman did it, but actually
Doug and a policeman wouldprobably make her stop quicker
than anyone else, right?
Yeah, who would make her stop?
Sophia (32:11):
I think a police officer but her boyfriend too or if you
see him flashing his lights Oryou see him go in front of your
car and beat the horn.
You'd be like, hey, That's myboyfriend what's going on?
Maybe I should stop and seewhat's going on.
Elena (32:22):
He could have pulled up next to her And then that's why
she put her window down.
And then he was like, I gottatell you something, get out of
the car.
D (32:30):
But her car was wiped down.
So someone spent time wiping hercar down.
It could have been a predator.
They said there was a predatorin Hawaii later on, but if this
individual was just starting outand trying, they said maybe it
was him.
However, there isn't muchinformation that they think it
(32:53):
is him.
Okay.
But let's just say, someonespent time, I'm not sure
Predator would have spent time,taking her and then going and
cleaning the car?
And then putting her purse back?
Elena (33:04):
Yeah.
D (33:05):
Doug could have put her purse back because he was the one who
found the car.
Elena (33:08):
Yeah, it seems more personal.
Sophia (33:11):
Did they check to see what time Doug returned to his
dorm?
D (33:15):
I have no information on that.
If they did, maybe they're notsaying?
Sophia (33:20):
don't know when he left after this, but it is
interesting that he left thecountry at some point.
D (33:26):
I want to thank you for listening to us this week.
We love our listeners andbecause of you, we do this
podcast.
Your help and engagement reallyhelps the podcast grow.
If you enjoyed this episode,please text a friend and family
member to listen to our podcast.
Until next time make sure youstay on the Eerie Side.
Elena (33:46):
Bye.
Bye.
Bye guys.
Thank you.
Be safe.
Hey guys, welcome to the Eerie Side Podcast with your
host D,
Sophia (00:04):
Sophia, and Elena.
D (00:06):
We appreciate you guys listening and I hope you are
ready to get on the Eerie Side.
(00:45):
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(01:05):
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I have a story today about LisaAu, who was 19 years old and was
living in Oahu, Hawaii in 1982.
(01:28):
She had her whole life ahead ofher, and she was excited for her
future.
She had just gotten her driver'slicense on January 18th of 1982.
And then a few days later, shevanished.
Lisa Au was born on July 25th of1962 to parents Chester Dennis
Au, and Patrice.
(01:49):
Lisa had a rich culturalheritage from each of her
parents, Chinese on her father'sside and Hawaiian on her
mother's.
She had long, wavy black hairand worked as a hairdresser.
According to everyone, herroommate, family, friends, she
was hardworking, responsible,conscientious, and a careful
person.
(02:09):
On January 20, 1982, Lisa wasworking at the Susan Beers Salon
in Kailua a of the Oahu Islandin Hawaii.
When she was finished working,it was pouring in Oahu.
flooding rains actually thatnight.
She was procrastinating leavingthe building, hoping to wait out
(02:31):
the downpour.
Eventually she headed out thedoor in the bad weather.
She told her co-workers she wasgoing to go see her boyfriend,
Doug Holmes, at his sister'sapartment in Makiki, which was
30 minutes away.
They didn't notice anything outof the ordinary when speaking
with Lisa that night.
She was just as steadfast andfriendly as always.
(02:54):
On her way to the visit, shestopped to buy poke for the
occasion.
She got to the apartment and thethree of them spent the evening
together.
At around 1245 a.
m., Lisa and Doug left theapartment and went downstairs
where were both parked and theysaid goodnight to each other.
Doug claims that was the lasttime he saw her.
(03:16):
Lisa had also called herroommate to tell her she was on
her way home.
Her roommate went to bed knowingthat it would take Lisa at least
30 minutes to come home.
When her roommate woke up, Lisawasn't there.
She wasn't too concerned becauseshe thought maybe she didn't
come home because of the rainand her being a new driver.
She worked with Lisa at the samesalon and thought she would see
(03:38):
her there.
Her roommate gets to work andLisa doesn't show up, so her
roommate calls her parents totell them that she hasn't seen
Lisa.
She was hoping that maybe shehad gone to someone's home that
night due to the weather.
However, she never arrived toher parents house that night or
any other family members.
Worried, Lisa's parents calledDoug the next morning at his
(04:00):
University of Hawaii dorm.
He told them that he didn't knowanything about where Lisa was.
He also told them that he willgo out looking for her, because
Doug was afraid that she mayhave gotten into a traffic
accident since it had beenstorming the previous evening.
Well, he found Lisa's car.
When he did, Doug called policeto report he'd found her car.
(04:22):
A 1976 Toyota was parked on theshoulder of Highway Maunawili
near the old Kailua Drive-in.
The officer who arrived noticedthat the window was down about
two, three inches and the rainhad come into the car and soaked
it.
The driver's seat was drenched.
The officer expressed concernthat her purse may have been
(04:46):
placed on the seat after thetorrential rain had stopped.
On the wet seat, lay Lisa'spurse, which was dry, the
policeman said, while Lisa'skeys and wallet were inside the
purse, her license and hervehicle registration were both
missing.
He also reported seeingscratches on Doug's face.
(05:09):
Crime scene technicians wouldlater determine that Lisa's car
had been wiped clean of anyevidence.
Sophia (05:17):
Where exactly was Lisa's car in relation to Doug's
apartment and her own apartment?
D (05:22):
Her car was farther away from Doug's apartment.
She was somewhere in betweengetting home.
I don't remember how manyminutes but she was 30 minutes
away like from Doug's more orless apartment.
Doug's apartment was close tohis sister's apartment.
Sophia (05:37):
Did it seem like she was on the way home or no, it was
just somewhere in between Doug'sand her apartment.
D (05:43):
It did look like she was on her way home.
Sophia (05:46):
And you said she was at Doug's apartment.
But there were three peopleherself, Doug and who was the
third person?
D (05:52):
Doug's sister.
They went to Doug's sister'sapartment for the evening
Sophia (05:55):
Okay.
D (05:56):
That was one of the first indications that something bad
may have happened to her.
If she had car trouble and got aride with someone, why would she
have left her purse?
And why was her purse dry, buteverything else was soaked wet
from the rain that night?
Her father said that he justbought her the 1976 Toyota,
(06:18):
which he had out and it was allright and it didn't appear to be
in need of repair.
Word quickly spread of Lisa'sdisappearance and thousands of
flyers were distributed islandwide as her friends and family
hoped, against hope, that shewill be found alive.
In interviews with the media,Lisa's family struggled to thank
(06:39):
the hundreds of volunteerssearching for their daughter.
"Thank you is not enough", saidher exhausted mother, holding
back tears.
Everybody wanted to help somuch.
The support has just been great.
The search would go on for 10grueling days.
On January 31st of 1982, ajogger with his dog stumbled
(07:01):
upon Lisa's nude body in aravine off Tantalus Drive in
Makiki.
She was found about 40 feet downan embankment and witnesses at
the scene claimed she wasfacedown in tall grass as if she
had been dumped from the side ofthe road.
It was impossible to getfingerprints from her body, and
(07:22):
that they ultimately had to usedental records.
Local reports also stated thatLisa's high school ring, which
had her initials engraved in it,was on her hand, when she was
discovered was crucial for heridentification.
Her body was decomposed to thepoint where it was not possible
to identify the cause of death.
(07:44):
So to this day, they don't knowhow Lisa died.
Several theories have emergedthat she was on her way home
when she was stopped andabducted from the Kailua
location, or that she was killedelsewhere and the vehicle was
staged in Kailua to make it looklike that's where she was
stopped.
Days after Lisa's body wasfound, homicide detectives had
(08:08):
to figure out who was thesuspect.
One suspect was one of theirown.
The reason for this was awitness later recalled seeing a
vehicle behind Lisa andfollowing her and that vehicle
had blue flashing lights on thegrill, leading to the
speculation she had been stoppedby a police officer or someone
(08:29):
posing as one.
Unfortunately, their theorybecame public, causing an island
wide panic.
Women feared that a policemanwas pulling over women to attack
them.
Now, here is why the policethought that either a policeman
or someone posing as one mayhave been involved in Lisa's
murder.
(08:49):
Lisa's license was missing fromher purse and her car window
rolled down half way.
In their minds, it meant she waspulled over and passed the
license to the officer and evenher car registration.
Sophia (09:05):
Oh my gosh.
Oh yeah.
I feel like that's, it's not setup just like that.
D (09:10):
And both of those forms of identification are missing.
Elena (09:13):
Interesting.
D (09:15):
After the suspected officer name leaked out, another woman
from the Windward side claimedhe had pulled her over and that
he'd used blue lights on hisunmarked car.
The woman had a sex harassmentcomplaint against him because of
what had occurred during apolice ride along.
(09:36):
Another reason the policefocused on this policeman was
that he also lived near Lisa'shome.
Police lights like these wereeventually taken off police cars
in the wake of Lisa's case.
The department even sought toreassure women that they didn't
have to stop for unmarked policecars and eventually the Hawaii
(09:58):
police department bannedflashing lights on car grills
altogether.
Sophia (10:03):
On car grills?
D (10:04):
Right.
Elena (10:04):
Like the front of the cars?
D (10:06):
They were hidden.
You know how unmarked cars?
That's what they were talkingabout.
Because they were unmarked cars.
Elena (10:10):
So they couldn't be hidden, basically.
D (10:12):
They didn't allow that anymore.
Elena (10:14):
That's smart.
D (10:15):
After Lisa's murder, they received a rash of reports by
women claiming they were stoppedby men posing as police officers
by flashing blue lightsotherwise hidden behind their
car grills.
In the meantime, investigatorscontinue their focus on the
police officer.
The mass panic over policeofficers may have pushed the
(10:37):
department to continue withtheir investigation into one
officer and even convene a grandjury based on their evidence.
While prosecutors were unable tosecure an indictment because of
the lack of evidence.
One detective who worked thecase said that the grand jury
proceeding was a waste of timeand he contends the push to go
(10:59):
after a police officer was alldue to the intense public
pressure for an arrest.
When the grand jury failed toindict the officer, the
detective said it tainted thecase, exposed mistakes the
detectives had made, and thatdiscouraged other prosecutors
from trying again.
He argued that a shoddyinvestigation closed the door on
(11:22):
evidence against others.
This detective found evidencethat seemed to debunk the killer
cop theory.
They had formulated prematureconclusions and he added that
they jumped on any clue thatpointed to the police officer's
involvement.
Remember Lisa's missing driver'slicense?
(11:42):
It's absence was an importantclue that a police officer
stopped Lisa that night.
This detective though found itmonths later when he was
retracing Lisa's movements.
It turns out after she left thehair salon, which was around
9:45 p.
m.
and stopped to buy poke.
(12:03):
She showed her ID to write acheck and forgot it at the
store.
Elena (12:08):
Oh, okay.
So that's what happened to it.
Sophia (12:11):
But what about her vehicle registration?
D (12:13):
Nothing comes up on that.
Maybe she had that with her andwhen she left her driver's
license, maybe it was stuck inwhatever.
I do not know.
I looked at a lot of articlesand no one talks about the
vehicle registration.
Sophia (12:26):
Well, even so, A cop still could have stopped her
that night and asked for herdriver's license and vehicle
registration.
She just may not have had thedriver's license at least.
D (12:37):
Correct, but they did find the driver's license.
Sophia (12:40):
And that does weaken the policeman theory, I will say.
D (12:45):
Correct.
Elena (12:46):
I would agree.
D (12:47):
After, the detective found this discovery, the I.
D.
was turned over to the police.
He said that he knew then thatLisa was not pulled over by an
officer.
To this day, many still believeit was a police officer who
killed Lisa.
By 1985, three years afterLisa's death, the lead detective
(13:08):
on the case was Nelson Lum.
He wrote in a sworn statementthat his massive and extensive
investigation into Lisa's deathhad produced no evidence against
a city employee acting withinthe course of their employment.
In other words, a police officerdidn't kill Lisa.
The admission showed that theHawaii Police Department lead
(13:31):
suspect in the case for yearswas an innocent man.
Lum also said there was actuallyno direct evidence as to who
caused the death of Lisa.
But he said that there were oneor more suspects in the case.
Now let's look at Doug.
He denied he had anything to dowith Lisa's death.
Doug told police he saidgoodnight to Lisa in her car and
(13:54):
did not actually see her driveaway.
This detective, who's beenfinding all this stuff, also
found a security guard at theMakiki Apartment building where
Doug's Holmes sister lived, andwhere Lisa was last seen alive.
He told the police he saw thecouple arguing about 11 p.m.
(14:14):
The guard reported that Dougthen drove off after Lisa left.
Doug told the police he had goneback his University of Hawaii
dorm room.
In a recorded interview, Dougacknowledged that he knew he was
one of the suspects.
Court documents show Doug evenagreed to two lie detector tests
(14:36):
and he failed them both.
Elena (14:38):
What?
Really?
D (14:40):
Correct.
He had an explanation though.
That he felt guilty for notdriving Lisa home in the heavy
rain because she was aninexperienced driver.
And in a sworn statement, Lumsaid that the explanation was
good enough for him.
And he didn't have any otherreason to suspect Doug.
(15:00):
Why didn't he suspect Doug?
Because he didn't think Doug hadany motive to kill Lisa.
Lum said that there was no thirdparty involvement, which ruled
out jealousy, which means no onewas having an affair, that there
was no money involved.
There was no baby coming.
There were no reason for him todo it, but Lum said Doug
(15:23):
admitted he was trying to endthe relationship.
Saying he was going to college,being educated.
While Lisa was more or lessstaying still education-wise.
Sophia (15:35):
Who said that?
Doug said that.
D (15:37):
Doug said that about Lisa.
Sophia (15:39):
Doug said that he said that?
About him?
Well if he says that he's goingto break up with her, then why
does he need to murder her?
D (15:46):
I have no idea.
But do remember, he did havescratches on his face.
Sophia (15:50):
That is very suspicious.
D (15:53):
So I do not know what that means.
Elena (15:55):
And he was able to find her car when no one else was.
They weren't really looking,though.
D (16:00):
He just retraced how she would have gone home from his
sister's house.
that is what he is saying.
Elena (16:08):
Okay.
Sophia (16:09):
Was it common knowledge at that point that there were
policemen or somebody whoappeared like policemen who were
pulling women over?
D (16:18):
Nothing was known to the public.
There was a few women I thinkwho had complained, but nothing
was known to the public untilLisa's disappearance.
And then the whole island knewabout it.
Sophia (16:30):
Definitely, if she lost her driver's license,
potentially her vehicleregistration, that could make it
seem like there was policeinvolvement, and potentially
there wasn't.
D (16:40):
Well, the policeman that they talked about hadn't killed
anyone.
He just stopped them and actedmaybe inappropriately, so I do
not know.
Meanwhile, if you guys want toknow what Doug is up to, he's
living in Australia.
According to his LinkedIn page,he's attended UH, which is the
University of Hawaii, and then acollege in Melbourne, where he
(17:02):
remains.
He's an executive with aninvestment firm.
In 2019, he said Lisa and hermemory deserve justice and it's
good to hear that the HawaiiPolice Department now has a cold
case squad.
Sophia (17:17):
I don't know what I think about that or how I feel.
Elena (17:20):
Yeah, that's.
D (17:22):
Well, he cannot be touched.
He is in Australia.
Sophia (17:24):
Say, Hawaii would say, okay, we want to arrest him.
We have a warrant out for hisarrest.
Would Australia expedite himback to the U.
S.
or no?
D (17:32):
Actually, I'm not sure.
They may and they may not.
He probably is a citizen of,Australia at this point.
Sophia (17:38):
Yeah, I think certain countries have different rules
on their expedite.
D (17:42):
That is correct.
Now there is another witness,Charlotte Kamaka.
She was a newspaper deliverydriver.
She later testified before thegrand jury about what she saw on
Tantalus in the hours after Lisawent missing.
She said she was on her regularroute around 2:30 a.m.
(18:05):
In the police record, she said aman drove past her in a blue car
with a female passenger whoappeared to be asleep or
unconscious.
What alerted me was her headfell", she said.
"When the car made a turn, herhead just fell".
The way this person was sittingnext to the gentleman who was
driving was unusual to her whenher head just fell.
Sophia (18:27):
It's like she's a dummy, almost.
D (18:29):
Yes.
Later, she said she got a goodlook at the driver as she turned
around in a paved lookout.
She said when the car made theturn, he just stopped and stared
at her.
After Lisa's body was found inthe same area, 10 days later,
Kamaka went to the policestation to report what she saw.
(18:51):
She said the detective wrotedown information, on how to
contact her, but she was nevercalled back.
She kept contacting the policeanyways to see what they were
doing.
Her questions went nowhere.
Well, they probably didn't goanywhere because they thought it
was the policeman.
Sophia (19:08):
And what color car did Doug have?
D (19:11):
I wish I knew.
I wondered that too.
Sophia (19:14):
I feel like there's a lot of evidence that should have
been easily Findable?
I don't know if that's the word.
D (19:20):
I don't think they were putting the pieces together
because I think they were stuckon that policeman.
Elena (19:24):
Yeah.
Sophia (19:25):
It's actually interesting that the police
would be stuck on the policemantheory because
Elena (19:30):
That's one of their own.
Sophia (19:31):
I wouldn't have been surprised if they had overlooked
that, so that is interesting.
They were so focused on it.
D (19:38):
You will see how focused they were.
One key clue in the case withLisa's car, which broke down in
Maunawili, near a mudslide thathappened during those torrential
rains.
Officer Michael Rehfeldt wasdirecting traffic.
and says he didn't rememberseeing Lisa's Toyota.
But months later, he was askedto tell the grand jury that he
(20:01):
did and report that he saw theat the car.
Rehfeldt said he refused to lieand never testified.
Elena (20:11):
Wow, that's crazy that they would go so far as having
someone lie.
For this like policeman theory.
D (20:18):
They were really stuck with that.
More than a year after Lisa waskilled, her body was exhumed.
By the time Lisa's body wasexhumed, it was believed that
Honolulu coroner did not do athorough job on the first
autopsy.
They were right.
When the body was exhumed,investigators learned her
remains were still in the policebody bag.
Elena (20:39):
Wow.
D (20:40):
He was also appalled to learn that there were still leaves.
and dirt and rubbish inside.
The body was never even washed.
The medical examiner was prettyred faced and embarrassed when
all the details were revealed.
A second opinion was sought bythe Los Angeles coroner who took
(21:02):
a look at the scar and jaw bone.
The result of the exam was nevermade public, but the coroner did
say that advanced decompositionmeant making any conclusions
would be very difficult.
Forensic anthropologist RobertMann of the University of
Hawaii, said a human skull canprovide so many clues, but a
(21:22):
less experienced examiner couldeasily miss the signs.
There's so much that you cantell from the skull that you
can't tell from the neck down,said a Mann.
If you miss that one littlemark, that one little indicator
of possibly cause of death,you're going to go we don't have
any evidence of what that persondied of, but it's there.
(21:44):
So you have to be very careful.
Mann of the University of Hawaiisaid he'd be willing to take
another look.
That is, if he could access it.
The problem, there is somedispute about where the skull
and jawbone are now.
The Honolulu Police Departmentsays they're in the hands of the
medical examiner officer, butthe medical examiner says they
(22:06):
were returned to the casket withthe rest of the remains.
Lisa's family wonders if theitems were indeed returned.
The only way to be sure would beto disturb her grave again.
Despite the painful process,Lisa's family will be asking the
Hawaiian police department to doit again, and re-examine her
(22:26):
remains.
They want to know if time,technology, and better skilled
forensic anthropologists canfinally determine how she died.
To this day, there have been noarrests in connection with
Lisa's murder, and her parentsboth have died without knowing
what happened to their daughter.
Sophia (22:43):
I was wondering when I first heard about the body,
whether it was really examinedto the fullest, and I'm not
surprised that the second timeit was examined that they kept
some information to themselvesand I think that's probably a
good thing and I hope that meansthey know something so that if
there ever is somebody, asuspect, a person of interest
(23:04):
making a claim they canbacktrack it up with the
evidence that they have.
Elena (23:08):
I definitely think that's possibly a good sign.
I think we'll just have to waitand see, especially with this
next, attempt to, search for newevidence.
Hopefully that they can findstuff That they've missed in the
past.
It's just crazy to me to see howsomeone could just bury her in
such like a disrespectful way isvery hurtful for her and for her
(23:29):
family.
And just to not have thatrespect was also just really sad
to hear.
D (23:34):
I actually couldn't understand since this was a
murder case I know she wasreally decomposed badly.
However, I would have hopedthey'd have done an autopsy as
best as they could.
And it didn't even seem they didit when her body was still in
the body bag.
They picked her up And it wasdirty with debris, which means
(23:57):
they never did a thoroughautopsy.
Yes, she was degraded, but theyshould have been able to find
something.
I would have hoped.
Elena (24:03):
Right.
And especially given the factthat this is a murder case, you
have to make sure you preservethe body.
Right.
In case you ever have to go andlook in the future, that's just
common sense to bury it in apreserved way.
Sophia (24:18):
I had a feeling this had happened and from the moment you
told me about the body there wasjust something in my mind that I
immediately thought okay theydid not do a proper job
examining the body and maybeit's because it had been 10 days
Yet they did not know how shedied.
And I understand they may notunderstand how she died, but
there was no other evidence thatthey presented to say, okay, we
(24:41):
don't know how she died, butthis is what we did find with
the body.
And to me, it just felt a littlebit lacking.
D (24:48):
The thing is, if you do an autopsy, you can tell if she was
killed.
Within you know the those hoursbecause you know there would be
bugs around her and you knowWhat stages of the bugs are.
I know it's ten days, but someof the bugs go fast.
You know they light lay theireggs, and they come out and all
that so I, and I know in Hawaii,the weather's goes fast, but
(25:11):
they didn't seem to even do thatbecause I think it sounds to me,
they just assume that she diedwithin so many hours and thrown.
But they didn't even do apresentation of, they found so
many bugs or so many cases oftheir bugs around her that they
could figure out that, she haddied.
I just don't understand.
It was just kinda, anafterthought about her.
Elena (25:33):
My question is why do you think that they treated this
case like this mom?
Because I was wondering do youthink it was just They didn't
know the correct things to do.
They didn't care.
They thought this was an openand shut case.
I'm just curious what youropinion is.
D (25:49):
Reading through it and listening to people talk, I
think the police thought, thatit was an open and shut case.
I think by the time they foundher, maybe they were assuming it
was a police officer or they'veheard something, or when the
witness said they saw a policeofficer following her.
So I think that's where it wentright away instead of really
(26:13):
researching everything andfinding out.
If this police officer is ontheir force, they can watch him.
They don't even have to let himbe in an unmarked car.
They can just put him somewhereand trust him to another
department or have him do anoffice job or something until
they can solve it.
So it just seemed they just wentone way and that was it.
(26:34):
And I just think they did adisservice to Lisa and her
family.
Elena (26:38):
Definitely.
It just is unfair, what they didto her and her family.
Sophia (26:42):
The entire time they handled this case, it just feels
like It's an afterthought, theway they handled the entire
case, and I think if they hadmaybe handled it differently we
would have a better sense of thedirection to, as to what
happened to her.
And now, I feel like if we wantto solve this case, I don't know
(27:05):
if there's any DNA or not, orany actual evidence, but if
there isn't, I think it's goingto take some sort of confession
to, get this rolling in theright direction?
D (27:15):
Unfortunately, I don't think they're going to be able to
solve it, to be honest with you,because they didn't take samples
or anything.
Look at how they found the body.
The other thing is, did they askquestions?
Did she have someone followingher?
Did someone come to her work andseem to make her feel
uncomfortable?
There were no such things askedbecause no one talks about it.
(27:37):
No one at the salon talks aboutit, her friend, her roommates,
nobody.
So it doesn't seem like theytook the questioning any
further.
The detective that did a lot ofresearch, I think he feels that
Doug played a role withoutsaying it.
But, true reality, you can'teven solve that right now.
Sophia (28:00):
But where did Doug get the scratches on his face, did
he ever say?
D (28:03):
No one asked him.
Elena (28:03):
Even to this day?
D (28:04):
What happened was, the policeman put it down that he
noticed them.
I'm not sure he asked him.
It's nowhere written that heasked him, and then it never
comes up.
Where did you get thesescratches?
And he failed the lie detectortwice.
Did he fail on every question?
Did he fail just on, about Lisa?
And I have no idea.
Sophia (28:27):
To me, it says a lot that he had scratches on his
face.
And of course, we know that liedetectors Cannot be relied upon
a hundred percent, right?
I wonder when Lisa when shecalled her friend I wonder if
her friend thought anythingsounded odd or it all sounded
normal because it's interesting.
She was on her way home.
She should have been there in 30minutes.
So what happened?
(28:49):
If it's potentially allegedlyDoug what would have happened to
her thinking she's on her wayhome to her having her life
taken away.
D (29:00):
Don't know.
I know her roommate didn't thinkanything of it That she said
she'd be there, so she wasn'tconcerned, That's why she went
to bed.
She wasn't concerned.
Even though Lisa was a newdriver.
I think, had faith that she'dmake it, because everybody was
saying, Oh, she was a newdriver, it's raining.
Well, new drivers drive in therain.
That's how they learn.
You just can't say, I'm notgoing to drive.
(29:20):
The thing is, did anyone followup?
go to his dorm?
Did anyone say, yeah, I saw himcoming?
maybe there weren't cameras backthen, but something.
I'm not even sure anyonefollowed up on Doug.
Elena (29:34):
Yeah.
D (29:34):
Except for that officer who found at least the guard who
said, well, they were arguingbecause Doug acted like nothing
was wrong that night.
Sophia (29:42):
Where were they arguing that they noticed?
D (29:45):
When they had come down around 11 for some reason, even
though they didn't leave toabout 12:40 a.m., but like
around 11 p.m., Doug and Lisawere downstairs and the guard, I
think they were downstairs orsomewhere around the apartments.
He saw them arguing.
Sophia (30:01):
And they were arguing at around 11, but they left at like
12:40.
D (30:05):
12:45 a.m.
They left, yes.
Sophia (30:08):
And where was Doug supposedly gonna go?
D (30:10):
Doug was gonna go to his dorm at the University of Hawaii.
And she was headed home.
Sophia (30:15):
Was, do we know at all if Lisa was pregnant or not?
D (30:18):
All I know was no.
Sophia (30:20):
Did they even check?
Can we even trust them?
D (30:21):
Well, they didn't even do an autopsy.
Sophia (30:23):
So she could have been pregnant for all we know.
D (30:25):
Maybe, I mean I have no way of knowing that.
Sophia (30:28):
And so I wish would Have been very relevant to the
investigation
D (30:32):
That would have been relevant, but Detective Lum
said, no pregnancy.
So how would he know now is thequestion.
Let's just say, okay, if theynever did a real thorough
autopsy, considering she was inthe bag, she was dirty with
leaves.
They didn't even clean her,which means they really didn't
do much of an autopsy.
Here's the thing, if a boyfriendSupposedly or allegedly may want
(30:54):
to kill her you have to thinkwhy especially if it's not In
the moment heat of the passionkill right, which it doesn't
seem like it was
Elena (31:01):
She left before him.
So wouldn't he had to wait forher to leave and then Go after
her and then somehow catch upwith her separately.
D (31:11):
Yes, maybe he knew she was driving slowly.
Maybe he just was morecomfortable driving in the rain,
went faster, I don't know.
Elena (31:18):
I guess that's what the people who believe Doug had a
part of this believe, right?
That she left before him.
D (31:24):
According to the guard, she left and then Doug left right
after that.
That's all the guard says.
Okay.
It could have been just a fewminutes.
He knew the way she was goinghome, because he found her.
Elena (31:36):
There was no sign of a crash or anything, right?
D (31:40):
No, so the car other than the window being open the car looked
okay.
That's why they thought at firstthat maybe the car had broken
down, but there was nothingwrong with the car.
Elena (31:53):
So how do people think that he got her to stop like
just somehow was just likeflashing his lights or
something?
D (31:59):
That's why they thought the policeman did it, but actually
Doug and a policeman wouldprobably make her stop quicker
than anyone else, right?
Yeah, who would make her stop?
Sophia (32:11):
I think a police officer but her boyfriend too or if you
see him flashing his lights Oryou see him go in front of your
car and beat the horn.
You'd be like, hey, That's myboyfriend what's going on?
Maybe I should stop and seewhat's going on.
Elena (32:22):
He could have pulled up next to her And then that's why
she put her window down.
And then he was like, I gottatell you something, get out of
the car.
D (32:30):
But her car was wiped down.
So someone spent time wiping hercar down.
It could have been a predator.
They said there was a predatorin Hawaii later on, but if this
individual was just starting outand trying, they said maybe it
was him.
However, there isn't muchinformation that they think it
(32:53):
is him.
Okay.
But let's just say, someonespent time, I'm not sure
Predator would have spent time,taking her and then going and
cleaning the car?
And then putting her purse back?
Elena (33:04):
Yeah.
D (33:05):
Doug could have put her purse back because he was the one who
found the car.
Elena (33:08):
Yeah, it seems more personal.
Sophia (33:11):
Did they check to see what time Doug returned to his
dorm?
D (33:15):
I have no information on that.
If they did, maybe they're notsaying?
Sophia (33:20):
don't know when he left after this, but it is
interesting that he left thecountry at some point.
D (33:26):
I want to thank you for listening to us this week.
We love our listeners andbecause of you, we do this
podcast.
Your help and engagement reallyhelps the podcast grow.
If you enjoyed this episode,please text a friend and family
member to listen to our podcast.
Until next time make sure youstay on the Eerie Side.
Elena (33:46):
Bye.
Bye.
Bye guys.
Thank you.
Be safe.
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