MONICA DaSILVA - 7 yo ( 1990) - Reno NV

It's one of the Reno area's
most disturbing unsolved cases, one that coincided with the kidnapping
of Jaycee Dugard, further terrifying Northern Nevada parents.
The latest lead involves possible links with a similar case in southern Nevada.



Seven year old Monica DaSilva was taken from her
bedroom in a first floor apartment on Idlewild Drive in Reno September
23, 1990 while other family members slept nearby.
Her skull, ribs and collarbone
were found a few weeks later in Lagomarsino Canyon, east of town. At the
time, forensic specialists judged them too decomposed to be her, a
mistake that wasn't discovered until a year had passed.
Her disappearance followed other cases of missing and
murdered kids and the announcement that her remains had been identified
came several weeks after Jaycee Dugard was kidnapped from a South Lake Tahoe street.
Her case prompted formation of a Major Crimes Task
Force in Washoe County. An intense investigation initially centered on
Monica DaSilva's parents. They were eventually cleared of all suspicion.
The case remained unsolved, but not forgotten. Today
it's assigned to Reno Police Detective Allan Fox and he's working with
counterparts in North Las Vegas on possible links to the November 1986
kidnapping and murder of another seven year old girl, April Marie Rhodes.
The similarities between the cases are striking. Both
were taken from their bedrooms while other family members slept, their
disappearances not discovered until the next day.
April Rhodes' body was found in a storage room a short distance away. She had been sexually assaulted and bludgeoned to death.
Fox says there's no known link between the two
vicitms' families though they "traveled in the same circles" and possibly knew some of the same people.
Press conferences in both cities are planned for
Thursday. Hopefully, Fox says, putting both cases before the public
again could generate solid leads and at long last bring both families justice.

http://www.kolotv.com/news/headlines/Child_Murder_Case_In_Reno_May_Be_Linked_To_Another_126295463.html

Police: DNA links sex offender to rape, killing of child in '86

Jul. 3, 2013
Written by Rance Burger

Excerpt:

On Dec. 19, 2008, Detective Alan Fox of the Reno Police Department in Nevada contacted North Las Vegas Detective Ian Ryan regarding the similarities between the death of April Rhodes and the kidnapping and slaying of 7-year-old Monica DaSilva in Reno in September 1990. At Fox’s urging, Ryan sent several items taken into evidence from the 1986 crime scene to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department crime lab for updated DNA analysis.

DaSilva’s remains were found three weeks after her disappearance, buried in Lagomarsino Canyon east of Reno.

It’s unclear if the timeline is possible for Goddard to be connected to that crime. News-Leader records show him sentenced in Greene County on a molestation case months before DaSilva was kidnapped. The newspaper records are not specific about when he started a five-year prison term, however, and state online corrections records do not go back that far.

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20130703/NEWS01/307030104/-1/7daysarchives/Police-DNA-Greene-County-sex-offender-links-him-rape-killing-Nevada-child-1986?nclick_check=1