DNA from conch shell reportedly solves 20-year-old Massachusetts cold case murder

BRISTOL COUNTY, Mass. (TCD) -- A 53-year-old man was indicted for murder and armed robbery charges last week for allegedly killing his half-sister in 2001 after new DNA evidence reportedly connected him to the scene.

According to Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III, 41-year-old Rose Marie Moniz’s father found her dead at 3448 Acushnet Ave. in New Bedford on March 23, 2001, when he went to her home to pick her up for a doctor’s appointment.

Moniz’s father reportedly discovered "numerous kitchen items strewn all over the floor" and items from her purse scattered around the living room, according to Quinn. Money was reportedly taken from her wallet. Her father eventually found her "in a pool of blood on the bathroom floor."

Quinn wrote in his release that investigators concluded Moniz was killed with a fireplace poker, a conch shell, and a cast iron kettle. Moniz reportedly suffered skull fractures, lacerations, broken nasal bones, and other injuries. There were reportedly no signs of forced entry into Moniz’s residence.

Two suspects were ruled out and Moniz’s case went cold.

According to the statement, investigators dug deeper into Moniz’s case in 2019 and focused heavily on the use of the conch shell. Quinn wrote Moniz suffered "numerous abrasions and contusions which suggested that the spiny exterior of the conch shell made contact with the victim’s face."

That determined the suspect allegedly must have put his fingers in the shell in order to grip it to "strike the victim with extreme force."

Quinn’s office requested the crime lab test the conch for DNA, which helped create a full DNA profile of the suspect, David Reed.

In August 2020, a Massachusetts State Police lieutenant and a New Bedford Police detective went to Reed’s residence in Dartmouth to interview him. Quinn said Reed "immediately began making plans to flee the state" and eventually went to Alabama. Law enforcement officials tracked him down there, and he allegedly went to California, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. Investigators eventually captured him on Sept. 10, 2021, at a shelter in Rhode Island.

At the time of his arrest, he had just been indicted for armed assault with intent to murder and armed robbery relating to another cold case from 2003. Reed reportedly fled the state the day that case was supposed to go to trial.

WPRI-TV reports Reed was even a pallbearer at Moniz’s funeral.

Quinn said Reed is being held on charges connected to the alleged assault in 2003 and his arraignment for the murder charges will reportedly have to be scheduled.

The District Attorney said about the arrest, "I’m pleased to announce the indictments related to the previously unsolved cold case homicide of Rose Marie Moniz. She was a mother who was brutally murdered inside the sanctity of her own home."

He added, "Thanks to the efforts of my Cold Case Unit, along with detectives from our state police unit and New Bedford Police, we were able to bring some sense of relief to the victim’s family, all of whom suffered for the past 20 years from not knowing what happened to Ms. Moniz."

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