GUILTY MA - Aislin Silva, 19, Medford, 13 November 1996

[Alta]

BOSTON - After years of digging, authorities believe they have found the remains of a 19-year-old woman who was killed to stop her from talking to police about a gang's criminal activities.

Forensic tests will be done to confirm the identification of the bones found Friday on a hillside near an elementary school in Peabody, which is 20 miles north of Boston. But U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan and Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said they think the remains belong to Aislin Silva, who vanished in November 1996.

Authorities were guided to the area near the William A. Welch Sr. Elementary School based on testimony from a witness who was there when the body was hidden, but whose memory and speech were seriously hurt by a heroin overdose, Sullivan said.

http://tinyurl.com/y5s4zx

 

[OkieGranny]

From April 2010:

http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_14904366

Derek Capozzi is serving a 23-year federal prison sentence for helping to dismember and hide Silva's body...

The gang members were arrested in 2001 for their organized-crime activities and the murder. Silva's body hadn't been found yet, but police had found hair and blood tissue in trash containers at a Danvers car wash near the Liberty Tree Mall. That tissue matched Silva's DNA.

Crew member Kevin Meuse's fingerprints were on the trash container. Meuse strangled Silva while crew member Stephen DiCenso got out the hacksaws and meat cutter, according to prosecutors... DiCenso is paralyzed and unable to speak due to a drug overdose. Meuse committed suicide in prison...

The crew's leader, Paul A. "Big Paul'' DeCologero, 48, of Burlington, was sentenced to life in prison for a series of crimes, including ordering Silva's murder. DeCologero's nephew, Paul J. DeCologero, 32, formerly of Lowell, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for conspiring to kill Silva. Joseph Pavone, 33, of Burlington, received a six-year prison sentence for witness tampering.