Kristina Marie Tournai, 23, was the second of nine children born to Michael and Mary Ellen Tournai. She graduated Windsor High School where she lettered in track, volleyball, basketball and the Knowledge Bowl. Kristina also played trumpet in the band and sang in the choir.
Very empathetic, Kristina earned an Associates Degree in Nursing at AIMS Community College where she met the very personable John Sandoval. She received her B.S. in Nursing from the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) by working as a licensed practical nurse on weekends at Northern Colorado Medical Center.
Kristina graduated in the top 5% of her nursing class at UNC in May 1995.. During her practicum at the hospital, the instructor who evaluated her said that she was an exceptional nursing student, the best that he had ever supervised.
On December 31, 1991, Kristina married John Sandoval. In August 1995, Kristina left her husband and sought a divorce. He was a convicted felon on parole from California. He stalked women and burglarized their apartments.
Kristina worked at the Oncology Department of the North Colorado Medical Center. Following a night shift she told fellow workers and her sister that she was going to visit her estranged husband who had not returned the divorce papers. It was October 19, 1995. Kristina told her sister she would call after leaving John’s house. That call was never made. Her family reported Kristina missing that day.
John Sandoval was arrested the next morning on charges of criminal trespass unrelated to Kristina’s disappearance. Convicted, he served four years in Buena Vista and Cañon City. He was paroled in 2000.
On June 18, 2009, John Sandoval was arrested for the murder of his ex-wife, Kristina. Though her body has never been found-and no new evidence was presented-Sandoval was convicted by a jury of 1st degree murder and is now serving a life sentence. Kudos to the Greeley PD and District Attorney Ken Buck.