Suzanna Riordan

I'm very pleased to hear that you are awarding Gil Alba with Private Investigator of the Year this upcoming May. If were up to me, he'd win every year.

I am a friend of Kristine Kupka's, who has been missing since Oct. 1998.  She was pregnant with Darshanand Persaud's baby --he was adamant she not have his child-- she left with him that day and never came home.  There has been no official charge to Persaud, as he retained the aid of a lawyer immediately, and so Kristine's friends and family have had to deal with the horrific reality with no closure for over five years.

Thank God Kristine's sister Kathy found Gil.  Gil has been the one ray of light in this bleak situation.  He constantly makes leaps and bounds in Kristine's case.  I feel that if it weren't for him the police wouldn't be nearly as close to solving the case as they are, and if it weren't for him, those of us who love Kristine would simply feel like people can literally get away with murder. Gil reminds us that we won't let that happen.

We will have closure; we will find Kristine's body; we will see a murder trial.  I cannot stress enough how much Gil's diligence, intelligence and compassion have given us all not just hope for finding Kristine, but belief that we will find her, and we will have peace.

Gil is a kind, loving and brilliant man.  These are the factors that anyone hiring a private investigator must look for. If all those in this field of work could strive to be like Gil, then there would be many more cases solved and loved ones given closure.

Suzanna Riordan