48 Hours

A Search For Answers

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 9, 2001 / 7:03 PM EST / CBS

Kristine Kupka's sister Kathy says she became instantly convinced of Darshanand Persaud's involvement in Kristine's 1998 disappearance because she says he has behaved like anything but an innocent man.

He never called and asked about Kristine after her disappearance. What was Persaud's initial reaction? "He got a lawyer. That was his concern. His concern was with himself," says Kathy.

After Kristine Kupka disappeared, Persaud refused to talk to anyone about the incident.

Kristine's Story

For details of Kristine Kupka's 1998 disappearance, click here.

Ten days later, Persaud agreed to answer police questions - with his lawyer present. He reportedly said he'd driven Kristine to a mall, waited outside in the car while she shopped, then dropped her off near her home. Police have not been able to corroborate his statement, but without hard evidence, they cannot disprove it either.

Kathy describes the Catch-22 she now finds herself in, saying, "You can't get evidence without probable cause. But you need probable cause to get evidence."

Contact Info

To reach Alba, call 1-866-763-ALBA (2522).

So she hired private investigator Gil Alba, a former New York City police detective, to help find out what happened to her sister.

"I come into this situation and they tell me that Rudy did it. Am I to believe them that Rudy did it? Of course not," explains Alba.

He did his own inquiry, re-interviewing witnesses and studying their statements.

And now, he too believes Kristine's friends and family are right: Persaud is behind her disappearance.

"He got rid of the girl. He got rid of the baby. He got rid of what he wanted to, so he's totally satisfied," says Alba.

Now he's looking for hard vidence. And Kathy has put her life on hold to help him.
Together, they've crisscrossed New York, talking to Persaud's friends and family and hoping someone will tell them something that will tie him to Kristine's murder.

So far there's nothing definitive but Alba remains hopeful. "Because of hard work, you get the luck that comes in where you get that one call," he says.

Until that call comes, Kristine's friend Nick Papanikolu, and Kathy's husband Kevin pursued a different strategy.

"I want people in his class to know he's a murderer," says Papanikolu as he tapes scores of posters around the campus of the dental school Persaud attends.

They admit it's less about uncovering information and more about pressuring Persaud. Says Papanikolu, "This is something small, but it does disrupt his life."

And the pressure doesn't stop at the school. Their game of persistence plays out right in front of Persaud's house. They tape up posters around his neighborhood, but by the time they work their way back down the block someone has already torn down most of their flyers.

It's worth noting that despite all those posters, despite Kathy's and Alba's late-night visits to his friends and family, and despite regular protests outside his home, Persaud hasn't sued anybody for slander.

And according to Kathy, it's not because he's a nice guy. "If he sues us he's going to have to talk. And he doesn't want to talk, so he's not going to sue us," she says.

In fact, since his initial statement more than two years ago, Persaud hasn't said anything to police or to Kristine's family about the disappearance.

Read about the family's continuing struggle to find hope.