Bio

Orlando T. Ganal Sr. was born in 1954. He worked as a delivery truck driver for Young Laundry & Dry Cleaning in Honolulu for many years. In February 1991, he injured his back on the job and had difficulty obtaining workers' compensation, becoming increasingly despondent. Around the same time, his wife, Mabel, began an affair with a coworker at her part-time job, David Touchette. 

As Ganal grew suspicious and eventually confirmed the affair, he began calling and threatening David, alternating between friendliness and threats of violence against David and his family. Mabel moved out of the home she shared with Ganal and went to live with her parents, Santiago and Aradina Dela Cruz, in Waipahu; the couple's 13-year-old son, known as "Jun Jun," continued living with Ganal. David Touchette eventually left Hawaii entirely in July 1991 to escape Ganal's escalating threats.

On August 24, 1991, Mabel came to Ganal's home to pick up their son, and the two got into an argument that escalated when Ganal pointed a gun at her, begging her to move back in with him; when she refused, he turned the gun on himself as if to shoot, before Mabel talked him down and took the weapon from him.

Murder Story

The crimes took place during the night of August 25, 1991, and the early morning of August 26, 1991. Earlier that evening, Ganal argued by phone with his son, Orlando “Jun Jun” Ganal Jr., and later accused Mabel of turning their son against him. Mabel, Jun Jun, and the Dela Cruzes then ate dinner, watched television, and went to sleep at the Dela Cruz home in Waipahu.

Later that night, Mabel woke up to the sound of the front door being forced open. She saw a silver-colored gun and was shot along the side of her head. As she tried to crawl away, the attacker kicked and punched her. Santiago Dela Cruz woke up and tried to intervene, but he was shot. Jun Jun also woke up, saw Ganal, and was shot in the mouth, but he escaped to a neighbor’s home.

When Diego Dela Cruz, Mabel’s brother, climbed back into the home, he found his mother, Aradina, dead and his father, Santiago, badly wounded and covered with blood. Aradina Dela Cruz died from seven gunshot wounds. Santiago Dela Cruz died from multiple internal injuries caused by three gunshot wounds.

After the Waipahu shootings, Ganal drove to the Touchette home in Kailua. The Touchettes were in the house that night: Michael Touchette, his wife Wendy, and their children Joshua and Kalah. A neighbor heard glass breaking and a small explosion, saw a man moving quickly toward a dark truck, and then noticed the Touchette house on fire.

Inside the home, Wendy Touchette woke to the sound of Michael screaming. Michael said “Orlando” and told her to get out. Wendy and Michael tried to escape, but the front door could not be opened because it had been locked or blocked from the outside. Wendy eventually escaped through the kitchen door. Joshua and Kalah died at the scene from thermal burns and smoke inhalation. Michael survived at first but died on September 23, 1991, from complications related to severe burns over approximately 80% of his body. Wendy survived but was severely burned over about 40% of her body and suffered permanent scarring.

A fire investigator testified that the Touchette fire was intentionally set with a liquid accelerant, probably gasoline. The burn patterns and broken glass patterns suggested that gasoline had been thrown into the house and that two fires were started separately in the living room and bedroom.

After the Touchette fire, Ganal also went to the Young Laundry premises near the airport, where he had worked. Around midnight, a night watchman discovered a fire burning on the second floor. The sprinkler system extinguished it, and no one was injured. Investigators concluded that the fire was intentionally set with a combustible liquid.

The next morning, Honolulu police officers recognized Ganal’s truck and followed him home. When he arrived, officers ordered him to stop and put his hands up. After a struggle, he was handcuffed and arrested for murder. Police later searched his truck and found a spent shell casing that was connected to shell casings and a bullet recovered from the Dela Cruz and Touchette scenes.

On August 30, 1991, a 12-year-old boy snorkeling at Mokulēʻia found a gun and sledgehammer in shallow water and turned them over to police. Officers also found clothing and personal items nearby, including items later identified as belonging to Ganal. The gun matched shell casings and a bullet recovered from the Dela Cruz house, a shell casing from the road near the Touchette home, and the shell casing found in Ganal’s truck.

A grand jury indicted Ganal on August 29, 1991. The charges included first-degree murder for causing the deaths of Aradina Dela Cruz, Santiago Dela Cruz, Joshua Touchette, and Kalah Touchette; attempted first-degree murder involving Mabel Ganal, Michael Touchette, and Wendy Touchette; use of a firearm in the commission of a felony; terroristic threatening of David Touchette; and first-degree criminal property damage involving Young Laundry.

Ganal’s trial began on March 1, 1993. On April 7, 1993, the jury found him guilty on all counts. Judgment was entered on July 1, 1993. Under Hawaiʻi law, first-degree murder carried life imprisonment without possibility of parole. The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court later noted that a person serving that sentence could seek a gubernatorial commutation process after 20 years, but the base sentence remained life without parole unless commuted.

On May 8, 1996, the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court issued its decision. The court affirmed the first-degree murder conviction and other convictions, but reversed the convictions and sentences on the attempted first-degree murder and firearm counts because of merger issues. The murder conviction remained intact.

Later Honolulu Star-Bulletin reporting listed Orlando Ganal among Hawaiʻi prisoners serving life without parole. A 2008 Star-Bulletin article described him as convicted in a 1991 shooting-and-arson rampage that left five people dead.