What happened to Tina Sandoval? Details explored ahead of Dateline: Unforgettable 

Dateline: Unforgettable is all set to bring forth the mysterious case of Tina Sandoval's death, which took decades to solve despite having a prime suspect from the beginning. This chilling case, which dates back to 1995, is an example of a near-perfect crime that almost saw the perpetrator walk away with remarkable ease.

The upcoming episode of Dateline: Unforgettable, titled The Devil Was Watching, will cover this murder in detail when it premieres on February 8, 2024, at 8 pm EST on Oxygen. The synopsis for the episode reads:

"When Tina Sandoval disappears, her parents and loved ones spend years searching for her; Dennis Murphy takes a fresh look at the secret Tina kept and at the demon who forced her loved ones to make an agonizing decision."

Tina Sandoval's murder was so meticulously conducted that there are still only vague assumptions about how she was murdered. However, her murderer has been caught and is still serving a prison sentence.

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Who was Tina Sandoval, and what happened to her?

Kristina Marie Tournai Sandoval, better known as Tina, was a Weld County, Colorado native. Born in Windsor, Colorado, to Michael and Mary Ellen Tournai in 1972, Tina Sandoval was an ideal student in her school days at Windsor High School, where she lettered in track, volleyball, basketball, and the Knowledge Bowl. She also played the trumpet and sang in the choir.

Tina, one of the nine siblings in her family, was also drawn to caring for others. She earned an Associate’s Degree in Nursing at AIMS Community College after graduating from school and later worked in the Oncology Department of the North Colorado Medical Center. She earned her B.S. in Nursing from the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) by working as a Licensed Practical Nurse.

During her time at the college, she met John Sandoval, who was studying to be a Radiology Technician. After years of dating, John and Tina married in the Colorado Rocky Mountains on December 31, 1991. Unfortunately, the marriage did not work well for them, and Tina soon asked for a divorce.

In 1995, Tina was already living in a separate apartment and dating other people. John Sandoval, meanwhile, had not really moved on and was still trying to mend things.

On October 19, 1995, Tina Sandoval had plans to meet John at his home after her overnight shift to sign some papers and settle an IRS debt to finalize the divorce. Tina was skeptical about this meeting and had even asked her sister, Susan Tournai, to accompany her.

Susan could not come along but asked her sister to call immediately after the meeting. Tina had also reportedly expressed her doubts about John to others, which led to everyone pointing their fingers at the husband when Tina was never seen again.

Tina Sandoval's whereabouts were not found for decades since this day, though police and relatives suspected John's involvement in the disappearance. To solidify this, John was also previously convicted of harassment and burglary. Moreover, when the police reached his place following the disappearance, there were suspicious fresh scratches on his torso and neck.

But with no DNA evidence and no body, the police could not charge him. The case soon went cold, and Sandoval remained a free man until a new DA decided to reopen the case in June 2009. This time, John was found guilty and sent to prison despite no physical evidence.

This trial was later overturned. But in 2017, John finally cooperated with the police and revealed where the body was in exchange for a plea deal. Tina's body was buried at Sunset Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Greeley below another dead body. John was sentenced to 25 years in prison and five years in parole. He continues to remain incarcerated at the Trinidad Correctional Facility.

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