Rose Marie Moniz.Photo: Bristol County DA
Rose Marie Moniz, 41, was found beaten to death in her home in New Bedford, Mass., in March 2001. The murder weapons were a fireplace poker, a cast-iron fireplace kettle and a conch shell.
Her murder went unsolved for more than two decades. But recently, DNA found inside the conch shell linked Moniz’s half-brother David Reed to the slaying, authorities said.
Moniz’s family said Reed was a pallbearer at her funeral.
The murder was as brutal as it was shocking.
David Reed.Bristol County DA
Police were called to the scene and soon determined that money from her purse was missing. Yet there appeared to be no forced entry into the home.
An autopsy later revealed that she had significant trauma to her head, including skull fractures, broken nasal bones and large lacerations. She also had multiple contusions to her body.
After two suspects were ruled out, the case went cold until 2019, when investigators from the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office and Massachusetts State Police Unresolved Crimes Unit reviewed the case and looked more closely at the conch shell.
“Autopsy photos of the victim’s face showed that the victim had suffered numerous abrasions and contusions which suggested that the spiny exterior of the conch shell made contact with the victim’s face,” the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office said in a press release. “That suggested that the perpetrator would have to put his fingers inside the opening of the conch to hold it as firmly as was needed to strike the victim with extreme force.”
The inner portion of the shell was tested for DNA, and a full profile was found and uploaded into CODIS, the national DNA database, which led to Reed, authorities allege.
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Reed’s DNA was already in the database in connection with the 2003 assault and robbery of a New Bedford woman who had been beaten in the head with a tire iron.
In August 2020, authorities said they briefly spoke to Reed, who was living in Dartmouth, Mass. Subsequently, they allege he fled to Alabama where he worked at a lumber yard until investigators showed up there.
“During the next year, the defendant traveled to California, Hawaii, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island in an apparent attempt to elude authorities,” the district attorney’s office said in the press release.
In addition to the slaying of Moniz, Reed was also indicted in Bristol County on armed assault with intent to murder and armed robbery charges in connection with the 2003 attack in New Bedford.
Reed is being held in jail on the 2003 attack. He has yet to be arraigned for the murder of Moniz.
It’s unclear if he has an attorney or if he has entered pleas to the charges against him.
source: people.com
