Mitchell Peralto Was Resentenced for Kidnapping and Murder of Kimberly Washington-Cohen in 1997

Kimberly Washington-Cohen culprit received resentenced

Mitchell Peralto Resentenced for Kidnapping and Murder

Mitchell Peralto was re-sentenced for kidnapping and murder in 1997

In a recent article published by Kauai Now News, on Wednesday, Fifth Circuit Court Judge Kathleen N.A. Watanabe re-sentenced defendant Mitchell Peralto for his 1998 convictions for the murder and kidnapping of 23-year-old Kimberly Washington-Cohen.

Peralto was resentenced for kidnapping and murder. For kidnapping, he was resentenced for 20 years’ imprisonment and life imprisonment with the possibility of parole for murder. The terms of kidnapping and murder imprisonment were ordered to be served consecutively, one after the other, rather than at the same time.

In 1997, Mitchell Peralto and his ex-wife, Monica Alves Peralto, kidnap and murder Washington-Cohen because they believed she was a police informant and had stolen some of Monica’s clothing. According to the report, they were charged for kidnapping and murder as they abducted Washington-Cohen from a residence in Wailua Houselots on the Eastside of Kaua‘i. They suffocate her to death, and her body was found buried in a shallow grave the next day. The couple received their sentence for kidnapping and murder. The re-sentencing hearing was made necessary by a 2018 Hawai‘i Supreme Court decision in an unrelated case.

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Judge Watanabe noted that she did not take lightly that Peralto’s kidnapping and murder crime. And that the evidence showed that Washington-Cohen suffered a beating, slow torture, and suffocation. Prosecuting Attorney Rebecca Like argued at the kidnapping and murder re-sentencing hearing that the longer consecutive sentencing was warranted given the nature and circumstances of Peralto’s crimes.

Like argued that no sentence can come close to repairing the multi-generational harm from kidnapping and murder of Washington-Cohen effect on her family because of the Peraltos’ actions. Rick Burrell, Washington-Cohen’s brother, also urged the court to consider the multi-generational impact of the crimes. At the time of the kidnapping and murder, Washington-Cohen and the Peraltos had young children.

Monica Alves Peralto is currently imprisoned at the Women’s Community Correctional Center in Kailua. She was re-sentenced for kidnapping and murder in 2021 by Chief Judge Randal G.B. Valenciano to the same imprisonment terms that Peralto was sentenced to Wednesday for kidnapping and murder.

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