Driving around the neighborhood where he grew up in Maui, Gordon Cordeiro barely recognizes his hometown.
It has been more than 30 years since he last stepped foot in Makawao, and he is surprised at how many more roads and houses have sprung up, replacing the beautiful countryside he remembers from his youth.
He is also bemused to see everyone out in public glued to their smartphones, which he is still struggling to master.
But this is hardly surprising after spending his entire adulthood in jail for a murder he has always insisted he did not commit.
Cordeiro was thrown behind bars aged just 20 for the 1994 killing of Timothy Blaisdell, who was shot in the head during a drug deal robbery on a remote dirt road known as Maui’s skid row. He was then accused of plotting to have jailhouse snitches murder the only witness to the crime.
But now, aged 51, he is finally free and back with his family after his conviction was overturned thanks to bombshell new DNA evidence found on the victim’s clothing.
Yet, mere weeks into his newfound freedom, Cordeiro has a new fight on his hands as prosecutors vow to put him back behind bars as soon as possible.
Gordon Cordeiro walks out of prison after new DNA evidence found the profile of an unidentified man in the jeans pocket of the victim
Gordon Cordeiro wipes away tears in court as he learns on February 21, 2025, that he is going to walk out of prison a free man after 30 years
On February 28 – exactly one week after a judge vacated his conviction – Cordeiro was back inside a courtroom in Maui where prosecutors asked for him to be held on bail.
The judge ultimately denied the state’s request, but the prosecutor’s office said it would be appealing the vacation of his sentence, telling the Daily Mail ‘we still believe that Cordeiro is responsible for Timothy’s murder.’
However, Cordeiro and his legal team at the Hawaii Innocence Project have other ideas. They are now planning to use the same technique that infamously unmasked the notorious Golden State Killer to catch the real murderers and bring justice to the victim and his family once and for all.
The Hawaii Innocence Project has already contacted Steve Kramer, an expert in Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG), for help.
Cordeiro was freed after a DNA profile belonging to an unidentified male was found inside the victim’s jeans pocket.
Now the experts hope they can use genetic genealogy to trace where that DNA came from and identify the killer or killers. This involves entering the DNA into databases to search family trees for a partial match.
‘Even though Gordon is out of prison, we want to know who did this,’ Kenneth Lawson, co-director of Hawaii Innocence Project, tells Daily Mail.
‘And we are not going to stop until we do everything we can to catch them. We want to find out who did this to Timothy Blaisdell and who was still out there able to commit more crimes while Gordon was stuck in prison doing their time.’
He adds: ‘It’s not over.’
For Cordeiro, it would mean not only mean being exonerated but also definitively proving to the world another individual or individuals committed this chilling crime.
‘It would be amazing to find out who did this. It could help Timothy’s mom as I’m sure she’s having a hard time,’ he tells Daily Mail.
‘And also my family. Timothy Blaisdell was the victim in this case but my family and myself are victims in this case too.’
Gordon Cordeiro is concerned history could repeat itself and he may once again find himself behind bars for a murder he did not commit
The scene of Timothy Blaisdell’s murder. Blaisdell had gone to Maui’s Skid Row with a man named Michael Freitas to buy a pound of marijuana with $800 in cash
Blaisdell’s body was found at the bottom of a ravine on the night of August 11, 1994. He had been shot in the head
The nightmare began back on August 11, 1994, in the rural town of Makawao in Maui.
Blaisdell had gone to the Skid Row area with an acquaintance named Michael Freitas, where he planned to buy a pound of marijuana with $800 in cash, according to court documents.
Hours later, his body was found at the bottom of a ravine.
He had been shot once in the right side of the head and his body had been partially hidden under trash including an E-Z Glider exercise machine. The $800 cash was missing.
Blaisdell had told several family and friends about the drug deal, showing his uncle the roll of notes in his pocket and telling him he was going with Freitas to buy the marijuana.
But Freitas kept changing his story about what happened that day.
At first, he denied that he had seen Blaisdell at all on the day of his murder.
Then months later, he claimed he had witnessed Cordeiro kill Blaisdell during a drug deal robbery – and that Cordeiro was now also trying to kill him to silence him about what he saw.
Cordeiro was classmates with Blaisdell in high school and they ‘used to fix cars together.’
But he says he didn’t know Freitas. ‘We went to the same school and I knew of him but I didn’t know him at all,’ he explains.
Cordeiro also had an alibi for the time of the murder, having spent the day at home with his family and building shelves in the garage.
Despite this, the then-20-year-old was arrested and charged with Blaisdell’s murder in October 1994.
Kenneth Lawson, co-director of the Hawaii Innocence Project, agreed to take on Cordeiro’s case
Cordeiro is pictured marking his 50th birthday in prison. He says his family’s unwavering support kept him going over the years
Cordeiro says the first moment he even knew he was on law enforcement’s radar was when police officers swooped in on his home and handcuffed him.
‘I was shocked,’ he says. ‘It was unbelievable, I can tell you that.’
Even when the case went to trial, Cordeiro was sure a jury would clear him.
‘I never believed I would be convicted,’ he recalls. ‘If you’re innocent, you don’t think the system is going to fail you. I always believed I would be found not guilty.’
His first trial ended in a hung jury, with 11 out of the 12 jurors finding him not guilty.
But when he faced trial a second time, jurors heard from several jailhouse informants who claimed Cordeiro had tried to recruit them behind bars to kill Freitas.
This time, Cordeiro was convicted of murder, robbery and attempted murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Looking back, he recalls all too clearly the shock and fear when the verdict was read.
‘In the beginning, it was tough for sure. The first five or six years, especially the first year with the shock of being arrested for something I didn’t do and all the trials and expecting to be found not guilty but being found guilty. It was shocking,’ he says.
‘But as the years went on, I started to keep myself busy in prison. I did carpentry work. I stayed out of trouble. Keeping busy in prison is probably the biggest thing you can do to pass the time. It’s idle time that drives you nuts,’ he adds.
His imprisonment also took its toll on his family. Within the six-month period around his arrest, his mom, who had Lou Gehrig’s disease, and his grandfather both died.
Then, following his conviction, Cordeiro was shipped off to prison on the mainland US, serving time in penitentiaries in Mississippi and Arizona.
For his loved ones, family time meant taking an expensive, seven-hour flight from Hawaii to spend a few hours visiting him inside a prison for the weekend.
Cordeiro pictured with his sisters. He says his conviction took a big toll on his entire family
One of the first things Gordon Cordeiro did following his release was visit his mother’s grave
‘It was a burden on them,’ Cordeiro says. ‘They uprooted their lives, they didn’t take vacations because their vacations were trips to come visit me in prison. They made huge sacrifices for me.
‘So it wasn’t only me that suffered these 30 years. I was doing the prison time but they were doing the time with me. It was the whole family being punished.’
‘I’m lucky I’ve got a wonderful family. They stuck with me the whole time,’ he adds.
For Cordeiro, it was this support and belief in him that kept him going as his appeals and legal options dwindled.
In 2010 – after 16 years behind bars – his fight for freedom took a major turn when the Hawaii Innocence Project agreed to take on his case.
Lawson says he ‘knew Gordon was innocent’ the moment he read about his case.
‘I’ve practiced law for 20 years and you always get clients coming to you and saying I’m innocent,’ he says.
‘And 99% of my clients when I was a criminal defense lawyer were guilty. Everyone wants to say they’re innocent. But when reading Gordon’s case I knew he was actually innocent.’
The Hawaii Innocence Project says Freitas lied about Blaisdell’s murder and set up Cordeiro because he wrongly believed he had snitched on him about an unrelated drug case.
They believe Freitas – who has since died – and at least one unnamed co-conspirator had planned to rob Blaisdell that day but, somewhere along the way, the plan went wrong and they ended up killing him.
Lawson also points to new evidence he says proves Cordeiro was not only innocent of Blaisdell’s murder – but was never even at the scene of the crime.
On that fateful day, Blaisdell had been seen putting $800 inside his jeans pocket on his way to the drug deal. But the cash was missing when his body was found and has never been found.
Gordon Cordeiro and his friends are pictured work on fixing cars. His life was put on pause when he was jailed and he has now spent more of his life in prison than not
Cordeiro pictured with his family in 2013. Gordon Cordeiro had an alibi for the day of the murder and has always insisted he is innocent
Someone involved in Blaisdell’s murder must have put their hand down inside his pocket to steal the money, Lawson explains.
The Hawaii Innocence Project spent $100,000 on new DNA testing, including on the inside of the victim’s pant pocket.
The DNA tests came back with a partial profile that did not match Cordeiro or the victim.
‘In other words somebody else put their hand in the victim’s pant pocket where the money was,’ Lawson says.
In court documents, the lawyers also pointed to confessions from the jailhouse informants admitting they had lied back in the 1990s, new gunshot residue evidence and claims of prosecutorial misconduct.
It took 15 years but this February, in a highly emotional court hearing, Circuit Court Judge Kirstin Hamman looked at all the new evidence and ruled that it would have changed the outcome of Cordeiro’s trial had jurors seen it.
The judge vacated his conviction and life sentence, and a sobbing Cordeiro walked out of court surrounded by his supporters, declaring the day ‘Freedom Friday.’
Cordeiro says he never lost hope that one day he would be freed.
‘Some days you wake up and think it’s never going to happen but I always believed the truth would come out. But I didn’t think it would take this long,’ he adds.
Following his release, one of the first things Cordeiro did was visit his mother’s grave. He also went for dinner with his attorneys.
‘Then it’s just been non-stop visits with family and friends. It’s been nice,’ he says.
However, after spending more of his life in prison than out of it, Cordeiro is having to adjust to life back home.
While his life stood still, the world moved on, particularly when it comes to technology.
‘It’s very different. I feel funny calling people and texting on the phone,’ he laughs.
‘But I’ve got a good family teaching me the ropes. I think I’ll be good.’
He adds: ‘It feels really good. It’s wonderful. I get to smell the fresh air again.’
His family has launched a GoFundMe to help him get back on his feet, cover dental and medical care and find employment.
When asked how he feels about Freitas, the man who he believes framed him for murder, Cordeiro says he doesn’t want to waste time holding a grudge.
‘I’ve forgiven all the people who did this. I can’t live with grudges. I’m just going to try to enjoy the rest of my life and spend time with my family,’ he says.
‘Anger and hatred isn’t going to get me nowhere so I have to forgive them all.’
Gordon Cordeiro, pictured with his father Dennis, is seen in a Facebook page set up to petition for his freedom in 2015
In court on February 21, the judge looked at the new DNA evidence and ordered Cordeiro be released and his sentence vacated
Gordon Cordeiro seen leaving prison on February 21. Now he wants to help catch the real killer
Gordon Cordeiro is seen hugging one of his sisters following his release
But that doesn’t mean his fight for justice is over.
Maui County’s prosecuting attorney Andrew Martin has already vowed to appeal the judge’s decision.
Just three days after he walked free, Martin’s office filed a motion seeking to send Cordeiro back to prison on bail, claiming he is a flight risk.
‘The fact that [Cordeiro’s] conviction has been vacated does not, standing alone, indicate he is not a flight risk,’ prosecutors said in the court filing.
‘Essentially, [Cordeiro] is back to where he was before his conviction: charged with both murder in the second degree and attempted murder in the first degree.’
In a court hearing in late February, the judge ruled that bail is not needed, saying she does not deem Cordeiro a flight risk.
But Martin told the Daily Mail the state still intends to appeal the overturning of his conviction.
‘We still believe that Cordeiro is responsible for Timothy’s murder. As Timothy was shot, the question is who pulled the trigger? Almost thirty years ago, a jury found that Cordeiro pulled the trigger,’ he said in an email.
Martin pointed to Freitas’s testimony that he witnessed Cordeiro kill Blaisdell, saying the jury ‘believed him, and convicted Cordeiro’.
‘The unknown DNA profile presented by the defense last week does not change that evidence. The defense’s own expert testified that they have no way of knowing if that DNA profile was even there when the murder was committed. Two other profiles were also identified, and both of those DNA profiles belonged to employees of the company the defense hired to test the items,’ he said.
Martin added: ‘In this case, we strongly believe that the facts and the law are on our side and will therefore appeal the court’s ruling.’
Lawson slammed the prosecutor’s office for continuing to pursue the case against Cordeiro, saying they just ‘don’t want to admit they’re wrong.’
While he is confident prosecutors would lose an appeal based on the evidence, he is frustrated they are ‘revictimizing Gordon and his family and the victim’s family by going after someone who there is no evidence they committed the crime’.
‘What does that tell you? It tells you they haven’t learned anything in the last 30 years… it’s just horrendous,’ he says.
Cordeiro and the Hawaii Innocence Project are hoping to use the same method of Investigative Genetic Genealogy used to catch Golden State Killer Joseph DeAngelo (pictured) to identify the real killer
Gordon Cordeiro pictured with his family at home in Maui celebrating his release from prison after 30 years
Cordeiro says he does worry history could repeat itself and that he may once again find himself behind bars for a murder he did not commit.
‘It happened the first time, right?’ he says. ‘You’re always going to be concerned but, I mean, we’ll see what happens.’
Lawson adds that it is frustrating that it is now down to them to catch the real killer or killers.
‘In Gordon’s trial, prosecutors argued in closing arguments that Gordon put his hand in Blaisdell’s pocket and stole the money and his wallet,’ he says.
‘So when they can now see this new DNA evidence and they are still refusing to find the real culprit it makes you wonder: are they seeking justice or just a conviction?’
‘We just want to know what actually happened,’ he adds.
