Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Malden Chief of Police Kevin Molis have announced that Rodney Daniels has been charged with the murder or Patricia Moreno that occurred on July 20, 1991 in Malden. Wednesday, a Middlesex Grand Jury indicted Daniels, age 48, for murder in connection with allegedly fatally shooting Patricia in the head outside a Henry Street apartment in Malden where she lived with her foster family. Daniels was arrested in Georgia without incident on Sept., 27, 2021.
“After three decades we have taken the first steps today to hold accountable the person who we allege took Tricia’s life. It is always with mixed emotions that we make these announcements as we know this will not fill the void caused by the loss of a daughter, a sister and a friend to many,” said District Attorney Ryan. “I do hope, however, that it brings hope to some of the families who are still awaiting answers. 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. When we created a dedicated unit to look at our uncharged cases, we hoped for outcomes like this one. We know that time can change many things and in this case we were able to uncover new information that led us to this arrest.”
On July 20, 1991, just after 3:00 a.m., police responded to the third floor apartment at 21-23 Henry Street, Malden, where the 17 year-old victim, Patricia Moreno, was found with a single gunshot wound to the head. Patricia had been living at this location after being placed with a foster family. The investigation revealed that the victim’s foster mother, her two teenage daughters and her daughter’s boyfriend, Rodney Daniels, were also present in the apartment.
When police and emergency medical personnel arrived, Patricia was alone, face down, on the third floor fire escape landing, still breathing but seriously injured. The victim was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital, where it was determined that she had suffered an irreversible brain injury. She died that afternoon as a direct result of the gunshot wound. No weapon or cartridge casing was recovered from the scene.
The surviving occupants of the apartment claimed that they had heard a pair of gunshots, but had no information as to the identity of the shooter. There was no evidence of forced entry into the home. During the subsequent investigation police interviewed Rodney 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 subsequently walked out onto the fire escape where he located the victim. The victim’s foster mother then called for police and an ambulance.
Over the course of the investigation police learned that Rodney Daniels had been in possession of multiple handguns close in time to the murder. Further investigation also revealed that Daniels had engaged in threatening behavior toward the victim in the weeks before her death. Numerous parties were interviewed over the course of many years but no arrest was made in the case.
In 2020, after the case had been assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office unit dedicated to these types of uncharged cases, crime scene investigators returned to 21-23 Henry St. and reconstructed the position of the victim on the third-floor fire escape. 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 the victim had resided with her foster family, and where Daniels had been staying that evening.
As investigators continued to search for new information, they began re-interviewing witnesses and were also able to locate a witness who had been out of the United States for an extended period. That witness, who lived in the second-floor apartment at the time of Patricia’s murder, revealed that on the night of the murder the witness had been awakened by a loud noise and immediately looked to the fire escape. The witness was able to provide a physical description of the party, which was consistent with the appearance of Rodney Daniels, and described the party immediately retreating into the apartment and closing the door behind him.
As a result of the new information investigators applied for and obtained a warrant from the Malden District Court for the arrest of Rodney Daniels on the charge of murder. On September 27, 2021, Daniels was arrested at his home without incident by Massachusetts State Police Detectives assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, Malden Police detectives and the City of South Fulton Police in Georgia with the assistance of their Metro South Swat Team. He was arraigned in Georgia as a fugitive from justice and is being transported back to Massachusetts to be arraigned tomorrow. The prosecutor assigned to this case is David Solet, Chief of the Cold Case Unit. The Victim Witness Advocate assigned to the case is Kristen Chamberlain.
Recognizing the enormous hole that the loss of a loved one leaves in the life of a family, District Attorney Marian Ryan created a new Cold Case Unit in 2019. Prosecutors and detectives working with the unit re-examine existing evidence and utilize the latest investigative techniques and technology to examine uncharged cases across the County. The Unit investigates unsolved homicides, suspicious deaths where foul play is suspected, and missing persons cases.
Republished courtesy of Middlesex DA Office. Photo credit: Middlesex DA's Office