Do you know who murdered Stacey? Stacey B. Gilman, a 19-year-old White female, came to Oahu from New Jersey and found herself in the crush of Independence Day crowds along Waikiki Beach, near Fort DeRussy. Fireworks were in the sky on July 4, 1981, and the shoreline was full of people moving in the half-light—until a single gunshot cut through the celebration and she was struck by a bullet.

Later accounts describe her walking near the water with her sister and a friend when the round hit her in the head, turning an ordinary holiday stroll into a frantic race for help. She was rushed to the hospital, but she did not survive. In the confusion of a packed beach and booming fireworks, it wasn’t clear where the shot came from—or whether she had been deliberately targeted or was the victim of reckless gunfire. 
What investigators did have were witnesses, and enough impressions gathered in the aftermath for police to develop sketches of two possible persons of interest. One was described as a young man of about average height and weight with a slim-to-medium build, dark wavy hair worn down to the neck, a mustache, a darker complexion, and pockmarks on his face. 
The second person of interest was described as another young man of similar age, also around average height and weight, with a medium build, blond straight crew-cut hair, a fair complexion, and light-colored eyes—someone who, to witnesses, seemed as though he might have been a military serviceman. Accounts circulated about a small group of military men seen nearby around the time of the shooting, but public summaries do not confirm who fired the weapon. 
Despite the sketches and the passage of decades, publicly available case information continues to frame the killing as unresolved, with no named suspect formally identified and no publicly documented arrests, charges, trials, or convictions connected to her death. The case remains one where the night’s noise and crowds still seem to swallow the answer—leaving only the memory of a holiday beach, a sudden crack, and a life that ended before anyone could even make sense of why. 
