The murder of Patricia Moreno
Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts · 1991
Overview
Patricia "Tricia" Moreno, 17, lived with a foster mother and the woman's two teenage daughters in a third-floor apartment on Henry Street in Malden, Massachusetts. Just after 3 a.m. on July 20, 1991, police found her face down on the fire escape landing with a single gunshot wound to the head. She was still breathing and died at Massachusetts General Hospital that afternoon. No gun or cartridge casing was found and there was no sign of forced entry. Everyone in the apartment said they had heard two shots and could not say who fired them. Police learned that Rodney Daniels, the boyfriend of the foster mother's oldest daughter, who was staying there that night, had several handguns and had threatened Moreno, but he said he had been asleep in an armchair and no one was charged. In 2020 the Middlesex County district attorney's new cold case unit reconstructed the shooting and found that the bullet's path fit a shot from the apartment doorway. Investigators then located a former downstairs neighbor, who had been out of the country, and who described a man fitting Daniels's description on the fire escape. A woman who had protected Daniels in 1991 had also told friends and relatives, before she died, that he killed Moreno. Daniels was arrested in South Fulton, Georgia on September 27, 2021. In August 2023 a Middlesex Superior Court jury convicted him of first-degree murder.
How it was solved
There was no new forensic result. In 1991 police had no gun and no cartridge casing, and no sign of forced entry. They had a projectile that an autopsy determined to be from a .38-caliber weapon. Everyone in the apartment said they heard two shots and did not know who fired them. Police learned that Rodney Daniels, who sometimes stayed with the family, had several handguns, one consistent with a .38-caliber revolver, and had engaged in threatening behavior toward Moreno. Police could not gather enough evidence to arrest him, the district attorney said. A cold case initiative that Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan's office began in 2019 took up the case. In 2020 crime scene investigators returned to the building and reconstructed where Moreno lay. Based on the position of the wound and the downward trajectory of the bullet, prosecutors said, the shot was consistent with having been fired from the doorway of the apartment where Daniels had been staying. Investigators then re-interviewed witnesses and found a former second-floor neighbor who had been out of the country for an extended period. Ryan said he told them a loud noise woke him and that, looking at the fire escape, he saw a man fitting Daniels's description, who then went back inside and closed the door. A second witness, a woman who had protected Daniels in 1991 and who admitted she lied to police and a grand jury, later told friends and relatives that he had killed Moreno, hidden the weapon inside an armchair and later disposed of it; she has since died. Ryan said the case was solved "not by a new development in forensic science, but as a result of relentless investigative work and a change in circumstances for some parties involved." Daniels was arrested on September 27, 2021, indicted, and pleaded not guilty. After a six-day trial in Middlesex Superior Court he was convicted of first-degree murder in August 2023. Coverage of the verdict rests on the district attorney's statement; reports do not describe testimony, and no sentencing report was found.
Sources
- Georgia man indicted in 30-year-old killing of Malden teen (September 29, 2021)
“Investigators also located a witness who previously had been unavailable but had seen, from his bedroom window in a second-floor apartment in the same building, a man fitting Daniels’s description on the fire escape immediately after the shooting.”
- Georgia man arrested in 30-year cold case murder of 17-year-old girl (September 30, 2021)
“Based on the position of the entry wound and the downward trajectory of the bullet, the path of the bullet was consistent with having been fired by an individual standing in the area of the doorway to the apartment, where Moreno had been staying with her foster family, and where Daniels had been staying that evening.”
- Cold case murder of Massachusetts teen solved without DNA technology, suspect arrested in Georgia (October 1, 2021)
“This is a case that was solved not by a new development in forensic science, but as a result of relentless investigative work and a change in circumstances for some parties involved,”
- Arrest Made In 1991 Murder Of Patricia Moreno In Malden (September 29, 2021)
“This is the first case solved by the Middlesex DA's recently formed cold case unit.”
- Man facing murder charge 30 years after teen girl found fatally shot inside Malden foster home (September 29, 2021)
“During an initial investigation, police interviewed Daniels, who claimed that he had been sleeping in an armchair in the living room when he was awakened by the sound of two gunshots, and that he walked out onto the fire escape where he located Moreno. The victim’s foster mother then called for police and an ambulance.”
- Patricia Moreno: Arrest Made In 30-Year-Old Malden Cold Case (September 2021)
“Police also found a new witness who lived in the apartment below Moreno's foster family at the time of the murder.”
- Suspect arrested in 1991 killing of Massachusetts teenager (September 30, 2021)
“Daniels pleaded not guilty. His attorney said it was too early to comment on the case.”
- Rodney Daniels Held Without Bail In 1991 Malden Murder Of Patricia Moreno (September 30, 2021)
“Daniels, 48, was ordered held without bail in connection to the 1991 death of 17-year-old Patricia Moreno, who was shot outside of foster family's apartment building.”
- Georgia man convicted in murder of 17-year-old Malden girl in 1991 (August 17, 2023)
“Investigators also learned that a witness who had protected Daniels in 1991 later told friends and relatives that he had killed Moreno, hidden the murder weapon inside an armchair, and later disposed of it, Ryan said.”
- South Fulton man convicted in decades-old cold case murder of 17-year-old in Massachusetts (August 2023)
“He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.”
- Man Convicted in 1991 Cold Case Killing of Teen Found Fatally Shot on Fire Escape in Massachusetts (August 2023)
“Moreno was last seen alive smoking a cigarette on the fire escape in the early morning hours, according to The Boston Herald.”
- After more than 3 decades, man convicted of Malden teen's murder (August 2023)
“It was not immediately known when Daniels will be sentenced.”