Aradina Dela Cruz, 51, was killed inside her Waipahu home on the night of August 25, 1991, when a family dispute escalated into lethal violence. Court records describe a quiet evening: Aradina, her husband Santiago, their daughter Mabel, and a grandson had eaten, watched television, and gone to sleep. Near 11:00 p.m. the front door was forced open; Mabel awoke to a silver-colored gun and was shot along the side of the head. Her son saw Orlando Ganal Sr. in the balcony light before being shot in the mouth and fleeing. Diego Dela Cruz escaped with his wife and child, then returned to find his mother bent over a sofa, dead, and his father mortally wounded on the stairway. The Hawaii Supreme Court’s account says Aradina sustained seven gunshot wounds.

The court record recounts months of tension, threats, and a confrontation the day before in which Ganal pointed a gun. Investigators tied Ganal to related arson attacks in Kailua; a spent shell from his truck linked the scenes. Police stopped and arrested him at his residence the next morning. The case proceeded to trial in 1993, with guilty verdicts returned on all counts on April 7, 1993.