John Sandoval, whose first-degree murder conviction in the death of his estranged wife was overturned last year, led investigators to her remains in exchange for a plea deal.
The remains of Kristina “Tina” Tournai Sandoval have been exhumed from where he buried her beneath a grave in Sunset Memorial Garden cemetery where a World War II veteran was later interred. She was found inside a wrapping 21 inches below the bottom of the grave.
Sandoval on Friday pleaded guilty in Greeley District Court to second-degree murder. He will serve 25 years in prison and five years on parole. His sentence was dated back to August 2010 when he was convicted of first-degree murder.
Sandoval, 52, was to face a second trial this week in the Oct. 19, 1995, murder of Tina Sandoval.
Tina Sandoval’s mother Mary Tournai had reported her missing that day after she didn’t return from a planned meeting with Sandoval.
“She would have continued to make a difference in the world if she had not been killed by her husband,” Tournai said in a statement during the plea and sentencing hearing Friday.
The case went cold despite extensive circumstantial evidence pointing to Sandoval, a convicted peeping Tom.
Tina Sandoval was neither seen nor heard from again, according to a news release by Terasina White, spokeswoman for District Attorney Michael Rourke.
“If I can’t have you no one else can,” said Rourke, referring to Sandoval’s reasoning for killing his wife.
In June 2009, Rourke’s predecessor, Ken Buck, filed first-degree murder charges against Sandoval. A jury convicted him in August 2010.
In March 2016, the Colorado Court of Appeals overturned his conviction and ordered a new trial.
Sandoval, dressed in a black suit, apologized Friday and expressed his “condolences” to the family.
But Rourke said Sandoval remained silent for 22 years and only disclosed the whereabouts of his wife’s remains so he could avoid spending the rest of his life in prison. Prosecutors referred to Sandoval as a perverted stalker and murderer.
“We finally know where Tina is and we can finally lay her to rest the way she deserves,” said her sister, Mary Nerud, 39. “John — you are a murderer.”
According to a family statement, her parents and siblings wrestled with the idea of a plea agreement, which ultimately would mean Sandoval could be released from prison.
“Would our decision to accept a plea deal endanger another woman? Could we live with a longer sentence knowing we would likely never recover Tina?
“We urge all women who are victims of stalking or domestic violence to separate themselves from the immediate danger and to reach out for help,” the statement says.
Three weeks before the second trial was to begin, Sandoval’s attorneys approached Rouke’s office about the possibility of a plea agreement. Their offer: He would lead investigators to his wife’s remains in exchange for a lighter sentence.
Rourke’s office contacted family members about the proposed agreement, which was later reached on March 23.
That same day, Sandoval led authorities to Sunset Memorial Garden cemetery in Greeley and the grave of WWII veteran Arthur Hert. His grave had been one of three that had been dug and were still open on the day Tina Sandoval disappeared, Rourke said.
“At the moment I looked down and saw we were dealing with the remains of a World War II veteran, I about passed out,” he said.
Hert’s family in Casper, Wy., was contacted and within 90 minutes, Hert’s son went to the police department and signed a release to allow his father’s grave to be exhumed. Another burial ceremony for Hert was held the following day by Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Rourke said police had received tips that Sandoval had worked at the same cemetery in 1995 and again in 2005, and tipsters had flagged Hert’s grave. But authorities did not attempt any exhumations then.
“For 7,826 days, 3 hours and 22 minutes, the location of Tina’s remains has been a mystery,” Rourke said during the plea agreement hearing. “One that has haunted her family and the investigators who worked this case from the minute it was reported, and the community as a whole. While the original conviction served to hold this defendant accountable for the atrocious act he committed, the lingering question as to her whereabouts cast a shadow over this prosecution. Over the course of the last week, we have finally been able to give her family what they so desperately wanted. Tina has been returned to her family and may finally be laid to rest.”
Her family plans a private burial service for their daughter.