The documentary called “Return to Palau” premiered on Wednesday here with over a thousand viewers flocking to the Palau National Gym.
The documentary tells the story of the sole survivor of the 2003 murder of three members of a missionary family in Palau.
The 2003 murders of Ruimar, Margareth, and Larrison De Paiva took place in their Airai home and Melissa who was 10 years old at the time of the attack returned to Palau to share her experience through the documentary and how she reconciled with her past and met the man who has murdered her parents 15 years ago.
The murderer, Justin Hiroshi is serving three life sentences for killing all three DePaiva family members.
In 2003, Hiroshi told police he had smoked crystal methamphetamine and forcibly entered the DePaiva home to steal the TV and the VCR.
Melissa who was 10 years old at that time was found later on a secluded road by two local residents.
In the documentary, she said at that time she told police that she was kidnapped, assaulted.
She survived the attack but Hiroshi threw her in ravine where she was able to climb up at the side of a road where two locals found her.
Ruimar DePaiva was a pastor for the Koror Seventh-day Adventist church.
President Surangel Whipps Jr. signed Presidential Proclamation No. 22-318 on Wednesday “Welcoming back Melissa DePaiva Gibson and honoring the DePaiva family as a family of Palau.”
Gracing the movie premiere were Bilung Gloria Saliii, President Whipps and former president Tommy Remengesau Jr.
Former president Remengesau, at the time of the murder described the incident as a “shocking tragedy, a heinous crime that has never been experienced in the republic before.” (Island Times)