The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages. Listener discretion is advised. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski . And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski. And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases. Hello everyone and welcome back to Cold and Missing. I'm Ali. And I'm Eli.
And this is episode 84. Alright, episode 84. This is a cold case, right? Yep, we're covering a cold case this week. Alright, let's jump into it. Alright. So today, we are going to be talking about the cold case of Donny Gouveia. And this takes place in Honolulu, Hawaii, in November of 1991. But first, a little bit about Donny. Donny is 19 years old in 1991. His family and friends describe him as a gentle young man who had never caused the family any trouble.
He's an only child and adored by his mother Annette. Starting at a young age, he would often sing and dance for the family during parties. It seemed like he was a natural dancer, learning Latin dancing and dancing on floats for the floral parade during Aloha Festival, which is a huge event in Hawaii. He had recently graduated from Farmington High School and Donny was truly at the start of his adult life.
He was working for a local phone company at this time in 1991 and had started classes at University of Hawaii. He wanted to study accounting. He had his whole life ahead of him. And now a timeline of events. On Sunday, November 3, 1991, Donny is out with friends. At around 8.48 pm, he uses an ATM which was located at the Ala Moana Shopping Center. This was a usual hangout spot for Donny after work. Him and his friends would be together and would work out at the park and then hang out nearby.
When Donny uses the ATM, a camera on the machine captures the transaction. However, it's not a camcorder, but the camera snaps photos every few seconds during the transaction. Donny was in the park during the evening hours, but it's unclear who exactly he was with. It doesn't appear that he was with his usual friends. The next day, Monday, November 4, 1991, in the early morning hours, a jogger takes a route through Magic Island. Magic Island is a park in Honolulu, near and partially in Waikiki.
The park kind of looks like a pier on a map, with one side of the park facing boat docks, the other side facing Ala Moana Beach, and the end of the park ends at the Magic Island Lagoon. Through Magic Island, there are several trails that you can take. All of them kind of wind around the park. At around 620 AM, the jogger finds the body of Donny on the sand in the lagoon. He's laying face up. He's wearing a black tank top and has multicolored jammed shorts on.
He had obvious signs of trauma to his head. Police are called in and they begin to process the scene. An autopsy will later confirm what seems obvious to police at the time, that Donny died from being beaten. Police theorize a large rock near the body could have been used, since one of the rocks had blood on it. Donny did not have his wallet on him. He was killed just three weeks before what should have been his 20th birthday.
Over the next several days, the autopsy will confirm that Donny had died of severe head injuries as a result of a beating, and that he likely died during the night. When police first find his body, they have no idea who he is, but within a day they're able to positively ID him. It's unclear exactly how this happens, if police do this through dental records or if the family calls in to report him missing and then he's ID'd. It's unclear exactly how, but pretty quickly they do positively ID him.
That next Monday, November 11th, so it's been a week since Donny’s murder, and he's laid to rest at the Hawaiian Memorial Park. Over the next month, police investigate the case. There aren't many updates about what happens and exactly when it happens. What we do know is that they're able to track down the ATM photos that were taken just a few hours before Donny was murdered. The camera captures Donny, and with him is a man. The man is standing slightly behind Donny.
When you first look at these photos, it doesn't necessarily look like the guy is even with Donny. It kind of just looks like he's waiting to use the ATM. He's standing kind of slightly behind him, almost like he's in line. Police however say that the man did not use the ATM. We also know that during this time, police canvassed the area, but they failed to come up with any witnesses.
About a month later, on December 10th, police released the image of the man that they want to talk to related to Donny’s case. This is the man that was standing kind of behind him at the ATM. Police affirm that he is not a suspect at this time, but they just wish to question him. When police talk about the photos taken from the ATM, they specifically use the phrase that Donny was, quote, in the company of a local man in his early 20s, end quote.
It's unclear how they come to this characterization that Donny is with this man and that the man is local, but that is how they announce it to the media. Police also mention that it looks like the man is waiting for Donny. Police wait patiently for a tip to come in about the identity of the man at the ATM, but no one calls in after the image is released. It is also around this time, I believe, that police release a sketch of a man that was seen in Ala Moana Park the night that Donny was killed.
And this is also someone that the police are wanting to talk to. It's unclear how this sketch came about. Police say that they didn't find any witnesses canvassing the area following the murder, but I have to assume that this sketch comes from a witness or perhaps another surveillance footage that came through that was maybe more grainy, but it does appear that there is somebody else in the park that night. And then after this, the case goes cold for a long time.
I couldn't find any updates until 2019. So the case is still unsolved and has been cold for several years. Donny’s mother has felt every moment of the last 28 years without her only child. His mother, Annette, says, quote, It still hurts. Some days I'm okay. But some days when I look at his picture, or I think about something, I come across what happened, I get the crying fits. And you stay that way for the whole day until you sleep.
The Honolulu Police Department cold case unit announces that they're reopening the case in hopes to finally interview the man that was seen behind Donny in the ATM footage. Again, police say that he is not a suspect, just a person of interest that they would like to talk to. The detective working the case also hopes that advances in technology will allow them to test evidence from the murder scene. Since Donny’s murder, his uncle Walter had actually joined the Hawaii PD.
While his uncle has never worked on his case, he's too close to it personally. He does give a few more details to the local media. He tells the media that Donny had no personal items on him when he was found that night. And when Donny used the ATM that night, he didn't actually withdraw any money. His uncle Walter says, quote, We have no clues as to why anyone would do this to him. He didn't hang around with the unsavory crowd. He was never in trouble with police. It makes no sense. End quote.
I would assume based off of this 2019 press conference that police were looking to test evidence from the case. However, as of 2024, there have been no new updates as to the results of those testings or any advances in the case. So with that, if you know anything about the murder of Donny Gouveia in November of 1991, please call the Honolulu Crime Stoppers at 808-955-8300.
And the sources for the timeline today come from Honolulu Star Bulletin, the Honolulu Advertiser, Hawaii News Now, Honolulu PD, and KHON2 News. So that is the case of Donny Gouveia. Donny, I don't know, it never gets easier, especially when they're so young in cold cases. It's just really heartbreaking. And when you quoted his mother, that was, I feel bad saying, you know, just as like a listener that it was rough.
But it's such an unnatural way for someone to go, you know, for you to lose your child in this way. So I imagine with that kind of like unnatural loss, like something just like happens to you. I'm interested to just hear more about him and your thoughts. The information that you gave was great. But again, you know, it's limited. So it's always surprising to me to not know these cases when you, you know, really listen to what happened. So I'm glad that we're covering it here today.
Yeah, when I found Donny’s case, it was something that I knew I wanted to cover for the podcast because it just never seems like, you know, his story, his case ever got off the island as far as like media coverage goes really only the local news covered it at the time. So it was just really important to me to like, bring it to everyone. All of our listeners, I know our listeners really appreciate the cases that maybe don't get a lot of media coverage or that they don't know about.
So I definitely wanted to make sure Donny case got covered here. I echo what you say though, that his mother is so heartbreaking to read or to watch videos of her. Her pain is very palpable. And I know, I know that's true with all of our families, but something about the way that she expresses it like really tugged at my heartstrings. I do have a few questions. The first one being just like flat out.
Do you also believe that the guy in the video or snapshots behind him had anything to do with it? Because what ran through my mind was, well, if they're taking snapshots every couple seconds, like that person could have been like, I don't mean to laugh, but just like really wrong timing, you know? Yeah, you know, I did consider that that maybe it was just a coincidence that this person also needed to potentially use the ATM.
I think what brought police or this person more as to police focus is the fact that that person never used the ATM. So he's standing behind him. And it does look like he's just waiting to use the ATM. Like he's not quite standing with Donny. We'll post these pictures on our Instagram so that way you can see the suspects. But also what I'm describing here, like he's close to them. Like they could be, you know, together, like as friends waiting, whatever.
But it just kind of seems like he's waiting, but he never uses the ATM according to police. And they put his picture up in the following month and he never comes forward and nobody else identifies him, which I also think is interesting. If I saw myself like in an ATM photo and I knew I had nothing to do with something, I'd want to clear my name pretty quickly before my friends and family saw me. You know what I mean?
So it is interesting that this person has never come forward and nobody has submitted a tip as to who this person may be. I guess it's possible that with the way, I haven't seen the pictures yet, but with the way he was standing from what it sounds like is, you know, under your breath, you could be barking orders at someone to be like, show me what's in your ATM. You know, like a robber situation or whatever.
So again, with a case like this, it's with lack of information, there's so many possibilities. I'm looking forward to this case staying open and it hopefully gaining more traction. Yeah. You know, I thought of robbery as a potential motive as well, just because we know that Donny was at the ATM, but he never pulls money from the ATM himself, from my understanding.
And there's a part of me that almost wonders, and this is pure speculation on my part, but I almost wonder if Donny went to use the ATM and then just kind of noticed this person who was like maybe a little too interested in what he was doing at the ATM. I know I've had that experience where someone just was watching me too closely as I was going to withdraw money, so I just said, well, I just won't be doing that now.
So you know, I just kind of wrap up whatever I'm doing there and leave without actually withdrawing money. So I do wonder if maybe that's why he didn't take money at that time. But yeah, I would have a lot of questions as to why he even went to the ATM in the first place if it wasn't to get money. Was it just to check his balances or who knows?
I also am curious from that night, the night of Donny’s murder, police come out with this second sketch of somebody that was seen in the park that evening as well. And like I mentioned during the timeline, it's really unclear where this comes from, if it's, you know, like a surveillance footage or if it's a witness. Police are kind of saying that they didn't find any witnesses, but maybe there was somebody who described this person, but it doesn't look anything like the person in the ATM photo.
It's completely different, completely different looking person. So another question, who is that person? Do they have anything to do with it? Did they see anything? Did they hear anything? Like there's so many questions just for this one person, I guess these two people.
Yeah, a lot of big missing pieces from a case that like wasn't really that long ago, but long enough that some people who might have remembered something might not remember anymore or they might not be here anymore, you know, like enough time has passed, which is really sad. I would, I would like to believe that us covering it today will encourage more people to investigate the case itself. I have so many questions, I think like you and probably like our listeners.
So I'm looking forward to creating more energy around Donny’s case and his name and his story and hopefully it gains some traction. Yeah, absolutely. I'm really hopeful that this case gets energy behind it and just gets more police focus, more police resources. But also I'm hopeful that someone just may recognize the person from the ATM photos. It's from 1991, but the image is very clear. I was actually surprised as to how clear the image is.
So I do think that somebody would be able to recognize this person if they didn't know them. So I'm really hopeful in that aspect.
And then I'm hopeful that police, even though we haven't gotten any updates from them as far as DNA testing or evidence that they've tested further, that they are getting something, they are developing something, but it's just taking time due to, you know, lab backups and this case maybe not having the top priority of the police, that maybe it's just taking more time to work its way through the labs and to work its way into databases.
So between those two avenues, I'm really hopeful that the family will get some answers that his mother definitely wants. So I hope that she gets them. Again, if you know anything about the murder of Donny Gouveia in November of 1991, please call Honolulu Crime Stoppers at 808-955-8300. As mentioned, we will be posting pictures not only of Donny, but from the ATM as well. Along with that suspect sketch, we'll be posting that on our Instagram so you can find us there at Cold and Missing.
If you're not following us, please give us a follow. You'll get updates about the podcast and just other things we post about current cases happening across the United States and world. Also, if you could take a moment, just rate and review us. Five stars. If you're an Apple, a written review goes a long way in getting this podcast in the ears of others. So please, if you could, it would be so helpful if you already have. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
And an extra big thank you, thank you. We also have transcripts at our website, coldandmissing.com. So if you or someone you love is hard of hearing, you can go there to follow along as well as find all of our old cases, if that's how you want to search us. So you can do that too. But that is all that I have for this week. Thank you so much for listening to Cold and Missing. I'm your host, Allie. And I'm your co-host, Eli. Have a good week and stay safe, y'all. Stay safe, y'all.