Thirty-two years after a teenager was fatally shot on a fire escape in Malden, Massachusetts, a man has been convicted of her murder.
Seventeen-year-old Patricia Moreno was living with her foster family on Henry Street when she was found face-down on a fire escape, mortally wounded after having been shot in the head.
Rodney Daniels, now 50, who had been dating one of the biological daughters of Moreno's foster mother, was arrested in Georgia in September of 2021 in the July 20, 1991, killing, after an investigation uncovered new evidence in the case.
A neighbor who had been out of the U.S. for a long time told investigators he was awakened by the sound of a gun the night of the killing, looked out the window and saw someone "consistent with the appearance of Rodney Daniels," authorities said at the time of Daniels' arrest.
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Investigators also learned that a person who served as an alibi witness for Daniels later admitted to her friends and family members that Daniels had killed Moreno and concealed the murder weapon inside an armchair before eventually disposing of the gun.
On Wednesday, following a six-day trial, Daniels was convicted of first-degree murder, the Middlesex District Attorney's Office said.
“When a family loses a loved one in a homicide, even the passage of time never fully heals that wound. That is especially true when they do not have answers about what happened and no one has been held accountable," Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a statement. "Those who knew and loved Tricia have been waiting over three decades for answers... “The team that worked in this case was not deterred by the passage of time and used every tool at their disposal to root out new information critical to this successful prosecution.”
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It was not immediately known when Daniels will be sentenced.
