Former Kauai resident Monica Alves, also known as Monica Peralto, was resentenced today for her role in the 1997 kidnapping and murder of Kimberly Washington-Cohen, Prosecuting Attorney Justin F. Kollar announced.

The sentence was handed down by Fifth Circuit Chief Judge Randal G.B. Valenciano on Kauai. The court sentenced Alves, 54, to consecutive terms of 20 years for kidnapping and a life sentence, with a possibility of parole, for second-degree murder.

Alves and her ex-husband, Mitchell Peralto, were convicted at trial in 1998 after they kidnapped and murdered Washington-Cohen, leaving her to die bound and suffocated near Nounou Road in Wailua. Alves was originally sentenced to serve consecutive terms of life without the possibility of parole for murder, and life with the possibility of parole for kidnapping. More than 20 years of appeals and post-conviction proceedings ensued, including a resentencing in 2004 after a provision of the original sentence was deemed improper.

The state was represented at today’s hearing by Kollar and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tracy J. Murakami. Alves was represented by court-appointed counsel Keith Shigetomi.

“I want to thank the many staff in our office who have worked for the past 24 years to achieve justice for the family of Kimberly Washington-Cohen,” Kollar said in a statement. ” Our thoughts remain with her and her ‘ohana.”