Opinion ID: 2962675
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The FBI Reports

Text: In September 2010, more than four years after appellants' convictions, Paul J.'s former attorney received a fax containing two FBI reports describing interviews with a woman named Michelle Noe (the Noe reports). According to the reports, the interviews with Noe took place in the fall of 1999, about two years before appellants were indicted by a federal grand jury1 and three years after Silva was killed. The first report is three pages and describes two interviews that Noe had with Lt. Eugene A. Kee Jr. of the Massachusetts State Police and Detectives Thomas J. Romeo and Michael P. Murphy of the North Reading Police soon after she was arrested on an outstanding warrant for an unarmed bank robbery on September 10, 1999. Noe reported that, in mid-November 1996, McConnell -- her then-boyfriend -- came home in a panic with his clothes and arms covered in blood. After washing the blood off his arms, McConnell put the bloody clothes in a green garbage bag, and left the house. About 30 minutes later, Noe looked outside the window and saw McConnell talking to Portalla on the sidewalk. When McConnell returned to the house, he initially told Noe that Portalla would kill her if he told her what had happened. Eventually, McConnell said, I did something, I can't believe I did. She was your age. I'm not going into details. Remember the 1 Appellants, and several co-defendants, were indicted as part of a 23-count indictment on October 17, 2001. - 8 - girl I used to take you by the house with [Portalla]. She worked at MVP. We did something to her, she ratted. McConnell stated that Portalla and Nogueira were with him at the time, and if the police talk to Noe, she should say that McConnell was with her the entire evening. Although the report does not identify Silva by name, the parties do not dispute that Noe was referring to Silva as the girl who worked at MVP, a sporting goods store. Later (Noe was not sure of the time frame), when the news reported that human remains were found in a dumpster, McConnell told Noe, They’re going to put the puzzle together. I had to get rid of the knife in salt water. Noe also stated in the interview that she had visited Silva's apartment in Medford, Massachusetts with McConnell and Portalla at least ten times over several months, and had seen Nogueira at the apartment at least twice. Noe added that McConnell had told her that Silva would purchase cocaine from Portalla and that Silva had been storing guns for Portalla in exchange for cocaine. Only one page of the second FBI report is in the record. It describes an October 7, 1999 interview of Noe with Lt. Kee, along with Lt. Vincent Martin and FBI Special Agent Charles Gianturco. Noe reported that in mid-November 1996, McConnell and Portalla came to her apartment and tortured her by drugging her and burning her back. The one page of the report does not explain - 9 - why they tortured her, or whether this event was related to the Silva killing.