A Cold Case Squad Is Taking Another Look At The Murder Of Lisa Au.

Lisa Au

She was a happy and lively 19 year old and working as a hairdresser in 1982.

On January 20th, 1982, flooding rains were pouring down on Oahu when Lisa finished up work at the Susan Beers Salon in Kailua. She had been working happily and talking about her dinner plans, telling her co-workers she was going to see her boyfriend, Doug Holmes, at his sister’s apartment in Makiki. Now she was headed out into the bad weather. Lisa had just gotten her driver's license two days before. On her way, police reports show, she stopped to buy poke, which was diced raw fish. And after dinner, she headed home to Kailua. But she never got there.

The next day, Lisa’s parents called Holmes at his University of Hawaii dorm. He told them he would go out to look for her. Holmes found Lisa's 1976 Toyota around noon. it was parked on the shoulder of the highway in Maunawili near the old Kailua Drive-in. There was no Lisa so Holmes he called the police. The driver's side window was rolled down about halfway, and the officer who met Holmes noted that there was about “2 to 3 inches of water” on the floor of the vehicle and that the seat was “soaked and drenched.” Lisa's purse was completely dry, leading the police to believed the scene was staged. The officer also noticed scratches on Holmes’ face. Crime scene technicians would later determine that Lisa’s car had been “wiped clean” of any evidence.

A massive search for Lisa followed, the whole time her parents hopeful that Lisa would be found alive.

10 days after she went missing, a jogger and his dog found Lisa's naked body in a ravine off Tantalus Drive. Her body was so decomposed, that the coroner wasn't able to determine a cause of death, but her death was classified as a homicide. 

Numerous theories started to emerge about her demise. Some thought that it might be a serial killer, since there was other female homicide victims around the area. These women were all strangled to death and were around the same age as Lisa.

Lisa's driver's license and car registration were missing, this made police think that it was someone impersonating a police officer. Police were so sure of this fact, they started focusing on one of their own as a suspect. For about a year, an investigative grand jury heard evidence against the Honolulu police officer suspected in the case. A Windward Oahu woman claimed she had been stopped by an unmarked police car. There was also a sexual harassment complaint against the suspected officer from a young woman during a police ride-along. He also lived near Lisa at the time. But at the time the prosecutor wasn’t able to secure an indictment. 

To this day, many still believe it was a police officer who killed Lisa.

Both of Lisa's parents since have passed away, but she has not been forgotten, quite the opposite.

A former investigator in Lisa's case started working as a private investigator for Lisa's family.  He started  the investigation over. Witnesses, before Lisa's case was moved to homicide, that detectives failed to track down, or simply ignored, were re-questioned. While re-tracing Lisa’s movements her ID was found at the store where she wrote out a check for the poke. Security guard, Thomas Thornburg, worked at the Makiki apartment building where Doug Holmes’ sister lived and where Lisa Au was last seen alive. He was not previously questioned by police. He said that saw the Lisa and Holmes arguing about 11 p.m. Holmes had agreed to two, lie detector tests and failed both. He said that he felt guilty he didn't give Lisa a ride home that night. Holmes also claimed that he was trying to end his relationship with Lisa.

About a year after Lisa's murder, her body was re-exhumed. The Au's private Investigator speculated that Lisa's original autopsy wasn't done correctly and he was right. When the body was exhumed, investigators learned her remains were still in the police body bag. There were also leaves and dirt and rubbish inside. Lisa's body had never been washed. Her skull was also examined again, but cause of death could not be determined again.

Lisa's sister just wants answers and a cold case squad is trying to help her find those answers. 

In a statement, Police Chief Susan Ballard said that cold case detectives “are looking for anything that may have been overlooked at the time or whether new technology can provide new information."