Opinion ID: 2590211
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Murder of Anthony Silveira

Text: In December 1982, Anthony Silveira, then 29 years old and a member of the National Guard Reserve, lived in Eagle Point, Oregon, with his wife. He owned an army jacket with his name tag sewn on it. On December 4, 1982, Silveira was supposed to travel from Cannon Beach, in the northwest part of Oregon, to Medford for guard duty. He did not own a car. Silveira had telephoned his wife on December 3, 1982; she never heard from him again. Defendant was working for Lear-Siegler near Portland between December 1 and December 4, 1982. On December 18, 1982, Silveira's dead body was found off Boone's Ferry Road near Interstate 5 west of Hubbard, Oregon. There was no clothing on the body, which appeared to have been there for a period of time as there were signs of putrefaction and nibbling by animals. Death was caused by ligature strangulation, with a ligature mark, consistent with a belt, visible at the autopsy. A toothbrush was removed from the victim's anus at the autopsy; the rectum was dilated and spermatozoa and blood were found in the anal canal. The victim's blood contained alcohol (0.23 percent) and diazepam. On December 4, 1982, defendant visited his friend Gary Newell at the latter's home in Seattle, Washington. Defendant arrived in a rental car and, soon thereafter, returned to the car and retrieved an army jacket that was either Silveira's or very similar to it. Both Newell and his housemate, Leonard Brouette, recalled that the name on the jacket began with S and was a Hispanic-sounding name. The next morning, defendant said he was leaving for the airport and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Defendant stayed in room 1169 on the 11th floor of the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids from December 5 through December 8, 1982. About 10:00 a.m. on December 8, hotel security officer Ronald Ortega found Silveira's army jacket draped over a couch located in the 11th floor elevator lobby area, about 12 to 15 feet from defendant's room. Ortega turned the jacket in to the hotel's lost-and-found department. The prosecutor argued to the jury that the entry PORTLAND RESERVE on defendant's list referred to Silveira. In defense, pathologist Robert Bucklin reviewed photographs and autopsy reports concerning the Silveira case and concluded Silveira had been dead no more than three days when his body was found, although he acknowledged he had not considered the fact Silveira had failed to report for reserve duty on December 5 as scheduled. Banking and business records showed defendant was in Southern California from December 10 through December 18, 1982. Analysis of the semen found on the toothbrush in the victim's anus established it was equally likely the semen donor was a type B secretor, a type O secretor, or a type O nonsecretor. Defendant was a type O nonsecretor, and the victim was a type B secretor. In rebuttal, pathologist Robert Richards testified, based on the temperatures in the low 30's and 40's at the scene where the body was discovered, Silveira's body could have been there for two or three weeks before it was found, despite the relative lack of deterioration of the body.