Cold Case Prosecutions
During his time as Chief of the Cold Case Homicide Unit, David Solet was able to get answers for families and bring perpetrators to justice, winning cold case convictions for rape of a child, aggravated rape, and multiple first-degree murders - including a first-degree murder conviction including the oldest cold case homicide ever successfully prosecuted in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Some of these cases are highlighted below.
The 1991 Murder of Patricia Moreno: Commonwealth v. Rodney Daniels
Patricia Moreno was just 17 years old and living with a foster family when she was fatally shot on an apartment fire escape in Malden. The murder weapon was never recovered, and no arrest was made. More than 30 years later, David Solet led a team of Massachusetts State Police and Malden PD detectives, both active and retired, to reinvestigate the case from scratch. After reconstruction of the crime scene, the identification of a missing witness, and the collapse of a false alibi, they secured an indictment, brought Rodney Daniels from Georgia back to Massachusetts to face trial, and won a conviction for first-degree murder. Rodney Daniels is currently serving a life sentence.
1971 Murder of Natalie Scheublin: Commonwealth v. Arthur Massei
In 1971, the president of a local bank came home from work to find his wife Natalie bound, gagged, beaten and stabbed to death in their basement. Her missing car was recovered in the parking lot of the nearby VA hospital. But despite decades of investigative work, detectives were unable to identify a viable suspect. More than 50 years later, her killer was brought to justice after his thumb print was matched to a latent print recovered from the victim’s car, and his cover story came apart at the seams. After a jury trial in the Middlesex Superior Court, Arthur Massei was convicted of first-degree murder. Arthur Massei is currently serving a life sentence, with a concurrent twenty-year sentence for his failed to attempt to procure a false witness at trial.
2000 Sexual Assault of a 13-year-old Girl: Commonwealth v. Roger Reddick
In 2000, a 13-year-old high school freshman awoke to find a strange man in her bedroom. He sexually assaulted her, and when she tried to escape, he fled the home on foot. 23 years later, then-ADA David Solet and Cambridge Police Det. Sgt. Ashley Kmiec used a fingerprint from a jewelry box and DNA evidence recovered from the laces of a pair of work boots to secure the conviction of the man responsible. Roger Reddick is currently serving a state prison sentence.
1980 Murder of Katharina Reitz Brow: Identification of True Killer, Joseph Leo Boudreau
In 1980, Katherina Reitz Brow was found brutally murdered during an apparent armed robbery in her Ayer trailer home. Crime scene investigators identified male blood at the scene, but could not identify the man who had left the bloodstain. In 1983, authorities charged a neighbor named Kenneth Waters, and he was convicted of murder. Waters served eighteen years in prison until in 2001 he was exonerated by DNA evidence: the male blood at the scene had been left by someone else. In 2025, David Solet used a cutting-edge DNA analysis technique to track down the real killer: a man named Joseph Leo Boudreau, a former Framingham resident who had been convicted of Armed Robbery in New Hampshire in 1975. Boudreau died of natural causes in 2004, before he could be identified as the man responsible for the 1980 murder.
2013 Aggravated Rape: Commonwealth v. Christopher Aldrich
On June 18, 2013, a 22-year-old woman was waiting by herself at a commuter rail station when she was approached by a white male stranger. He produced a knife, threatened to hurt her, and then sexually assaulted her. Police responded within minutes, but the assailant was gone. Traditional DNA techniques failed to identify the assailant, and despite the dogged efforts of the police who responded, no viable suspect could ever be identified. In 2022, David Solet, working with Detective Chris Browne of the Acton Police and Det. Sean Conway of the Transit Police, used a cutting-edge DNA analysis technique to identify potential persons of interest. When one of those persons of interest – Christopher Aldrich - wrecked his car in a drunk-driving crash, police were able to recover an open bottle of Fireball-brand whiskey from the wreck – and crime lab personnel were able to recover sufficient DNA from the mouth of the bottle to identify a male profile. The DNA profile from the bottle conclusively matched the assailant’s DNA recovered from the female victim. Christopher Aldrich was indicted, convicted in Superior Court of Aggravated Rape, and is currently serving a sentence in state prison.
1982 Disappearance of Judith Chartier: Recovery of Remains of Missing 17-year-old
Judith Chartier was 17 years old when she left a party in Billerica in 1982 and disappeared without a trace. Almost forty years later, a family finally got some answers.
2009 Murder of Charline Rosemond: Commonwealth v. Heinsky Anacreon
In 2009, 23-year-old Charline Rosemond left her workplace but never came home. For a week her family worried. Their worst fears were realized. Her body was found in a car in Somerville; she had been shot in the head and robbed. Investigation revealed that she had been attempting to purchase a used car in the week before her disappearance, and surveillance video showed her withdrawing more than $4000 in cash from her bank shortly before she was killed. But no arrest was ever made. Almost 16 years later, David Solet secured an indictment alleging that two men had worked together to win Charline’s trust, convincing her they could get her a good deal on a used Lexus, and then had betrayed that trust and killed her in cold blood.
Charges are currently pending in Middlesex Superior Court. All criminal defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
1992 Murder of Michelle Miller: Commonwealth v. Edward Watson
Michelle Miller was 29 years old, a former US Army enlisted soldier and mother of two, when she disappeared from the streets of Cambridge in 1992. Her body was recovered two weeks later in an abandoned basement apartment. More than 32 years later, David Solet secured an indictment against the man alleged to have killed her.
Charges are currently pending in Middlesex Superior Court. All criminal defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
2015 Murder of Ashlee Berryman: Commonwealth v. Henry Del-Rio
Ashlee Berryman was just 21-years-old when she was shot dead in a parking lot outside a nightclub in Everett. An unidentified gunman had fired multiple times into a crowd of people, wounding one man, and killing the young mother. But no arrest was made. In 2024, after years of investigation, David Solet secured an indictment for first-degree murder against the man alleged to have pulled the trigger and fired the fatal shot.
2010 Murder of Gary Melanson: Commonwealth v. Kevin Lino – murder of Douglas Clarke
In 2010, Gary Melanson, 54, died of multiple blunt force injuries. His body was found at an outdoor campsite where he had been living, near the Rogers Street Bridge in Lowell. Almost 15 years later, David Solet secured an indictment for first-degree murder against the man alleged to have beaten Melanson to death with an aluminum baseball bat.
Charges are currently pending in Middlesex Superior Court. All criminal defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
2012 Murder of Douglas Leon Clarke: Commonwealth v. Kevin Lino
In 2012, Douglas Leon Clarke, 30, was found deceased by the Charles River in Cambridge. The position of his body appeared consistent with his having been the victim of an accidental drug overdose, and toxicological analysis confirmed that there were dangerous concentrations of morphine in his blood. Thirteen years later, David Solet secured an indictment for first-degree murder against a man alleged to have provided the victim with a so-called “hot shot,” a concentrated drug dose so powerful that it was expected to cause a fatal overdose.
Charges are currently pending in Middlesex Superior Court. All criminal defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
A New Vision for Middlesex County
