J. Drew Segadelli Attorney at Law > Articles > Testimony Begins in Silva Murder Trial

Testimony begins in Silva murder trial

D.A. says accused was in Provincetown on night crime occurred

Mary Ann Bragg
Banner Staff

paul dubois.jpg

The nurse who found Provincetown resident Linda Silva lying lifeless between two cars in the Alden Street parking lot on Sept. 12, 1996, recounted her experience in court on Tuesday, the first day of the Silva murder trial.

In a long day that included a bus trip for jurors to Provincetown to view the Alden Street neighborhood and the Governor Bradford Restaurant, nurse Leslie Holt’s testimony about finding Silva riveted the crowded courtroom.

So did testimony by former Alden Street resident Erica Coles, who, after hearing what sounded like a shot on that night in 1996, saw a person run north on her street, jump into a vehicle and drive away against the one-way flow of traffic.

Holt and Coles were two of six witnesses called on Tuesday by Cape & Islands First Assistant District Attorney Brian Glenny, who is expected to call more witnesses, some from Provincetown, throughout the week. The Barnstable Superior Court trial is estimated to last seven or eight days and is presided over by Judge Margaret Hinkle.

Last June, former Eastham resident Paul DuBois was charged with the murder of Silva following his arrest at a camping ground in Missouri. Police believe DuBois was motivated to kill Silva, who lived in Provincetown, because of her testimony against him in a family custody case in 1996.

Silva was shot in the back of the head in the Alden Street parking lot and at that time she worked as a family investigator for the state Dept. of Social Services in South Yarmouth.

DuBois, who is represented by attorney Drew Segadelli, was arrested in 2003 after new developments occurred in the case in 2001 and 2002.

In his opening statements Glenny said he would show that Silva worked a full day at her job on Sept. 12, 1996, and returned to her hometown to attend a social gathering at the Governor Bradford. He said friends later watched her leave the Bradford, first seeing her walk in one direction and then in the opposite direction.

Glenny said he would demonstrate that in 1997 DuBois admitted to police that he was in Provincetown the night of the murder, parked near Cumberland Farms, but told police he arrived after the time of the incident.

Evidence about two guns in DuBois’s possession, discovered by his long-time girlfriend’s mother and recorded on a piece of toilet paper, will be described, Glenny said. He said that longtime girlfriend, Claudia DuBois, will also describe Paul DuBois’s state of mind and physical appearance on the day of the murder, when he is said to have arrived home in Eastham late at night, wet, distraught and wearing only long johns.

An expert will testify that the gunshot that killed Silva could have been fired from one of the guns described on the piece of toilet paper, Glenny said. An expert will also testify about handwriting from a journal entry that is said to express DuBois’s anger at a DSS caseworker. Another piece of paper involving the cashing of a check by Silva will also be described, Glenny told jurors.
In his comments to the jurors following Glenny, defense attorney Segadelli said he would emphasize that there were many people in the Alden Street neighborhood at the time of Silva’s murder. He said he wanted jurors to notice the physical distances in and around Alden Street and Cumberland Farms. He said they would hear testimony that the shot heard on the night of the murder could have been fireworks.

Segadelli asked the jurors to consider inconsistencies in the testimony of one person who last saw Silva alive, and he told jurors that they will hear about a former boyfriend of Silva’s who had made statements about wanting to shoot her.

Segadelli said that he will show that Silva’s participation in the family court case involving DuBois was no more significant than another DSS caseworker’s participation and that, even with Silva’s investigation, DuBois hadn’t lost any significant parental rights in that case.

Segadelli asked that jurors consider what he said are inconsistencies in the testimony of longtime girlfriend Claudia DuBois and in the journal writings that are attributed to Paul DuBois. Segadelli also said he intends to show that eight companies manufactured firearms capable of shooting the type of bullet that is said to have killed Silva.

During the opening statements on Tuesday, DuBois sat next to Segadelli in a black suit jacket and gray pants, his ponytail tucked in near his collar, his face showing little emotion. DuBois looked directly at his family, seated in a single row, when he entered the courtroom. He often looked straight at the jurors as well. Throughout the day the number of DSS workers grew from a dozen in the early morning session to more than 50 by the afternoon. Silva’s family sat in a single row behind the prosecutor.

As for the details of nurse Leslie Holt’s testimony, she and her companion, both from western Massachusetts, were on vacation in Provincetown the night of the murder. The couple had dinner reservations in the center of town and were searching for parking in misty weather at around 7:30 p.m. when Holt saw an empty space in the Alden Street lot and her companion made a quick U-turn on Bradford Street to grab the spot.

As the couple exited their car and began to put quarters into the parking meter, they noticed a woman lying between two vehicles and wondered aloud about her status. They walked over to check on her and found Silva lying on her back. Holt described Silva as having a wet spot at her head with no pulse or heartbeat present, nor any signs of breathing, and with eyes that were wide open and fixed.

At that point Holt told her companion to go for help and call police, and he ran to the nearby Cumberland Farms convenience store. Holt stayed with Silva’s body in what she described as rainy weather and then became frightened, realizing that she was alone in the dark with a woman who had just been killed.
Holt attempted to stop a light-colored sports utility vehicle in the parking lot, asking for help, but that vehicle did not stop and instead turned right on Bradford Street and drove off.

Erica Coles testified that around 7:30 p.m. on that same night, she was in her first-floor apartment at 7 Alden St. when she heard a loud bang. She hesitated to go outdoors, waited a minute and then walked out to her front gate. She saw a person running north on Alden Street “pretty quickly” on the dark side of the street. She then heard a car door open and close, a car ignition start, and she saw headlights come on. The vehicle then backed up into a driveway, turned and traveled on the one-way Alden Street in the wrong direction, turning right on Cemetery Road and disappearing from her sight.

Coles testified that the vehicle was dark-colored and that the height of the headlights was higher than a normal car. She testified that the person was probably 30 feet away from her and was wearing a yellow raincoat and dark pants.

On that same evening several minutes later Coles said she went to where Silva’s body lay in the parking lot and could not identify the body. Coles was also taken north on Alden Street by a Provincetown police officer and there she identified the parking space where she had observed the vehicle a few minutes before, across from 20 Alden St. Despite the rainy weather that evening, the parking space that Coles pointed out to police was dry.

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