Not Much Of A Plan

Warren, Rhode Island, sits in Bristol County in the east-central part of the state, a small panhandle of about 8.7 square miles reaching into the water. James Pietragallo introduces it as a former whaling port that later turned to textiles, the original home of Brown University and the birthplace of the baseball pioneer Lizzie Murphy. In the summer of 2008 it became the setting for a double murder inside an ordinary family home on Baltimore Avenue. James Sawers Sr. was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, the son of Frank and Evelyn Sawers, and grew up in Warren as one of five boys. He graduated from Warren High School in 1965 and spent twenty years as a union steward in Local 721. He was a keen hunter and canoeist, rode motorcycles, and belonged to the NRA, Ducks Unlimited and the East Bay Rod and Gun Club. Marian Silva was born in Providence to Frank and Florence Silva, seven or eight years younger than her husband. She graduated from Bristol High School in 1972 and worked as an administrative assistant at a printing factory in Providence, as a teacher's assistant for the Bristol Warren Regional School district and in the YMCA children's programme. The couple married in the mid-1970s and had two daughters, Dawn and Sherry, before their son James Jr. arrived in 1984. Neighbours remembered the house as busy, with six or seven people living in a two-bedroom home and a lot of cars outside. The family had repeated run-ins with the law. In 1986 police raided the house and seized cocaine, Valium, Ativan, marijuana, a .357 Magnum and $1,350 in cash bundled with the drugs. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now Officers seized twelve long rifles, three handguns and 30,000 rounds of ammunition. details of the account remain covered until revealed James Jr. was a different kind of trouble. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it In 2004 police had found him pacing angrily in public with a weapon while three tire irons and a baseball bat lay on his car floor. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed James Jr. stayed. In July 2008 James Sr. and Marian were expected at a family reunion on Marian's side. She had spent months preparing a family tree and had a hundred copies printed. The couple never arrived, and calls and emails went unanswered. Relatives reported them missing. Police went to the house on Baltimore Avenue and spoke to James Jr., who said his parents had gone on a month-long motorcycle trip. When the officers pressed him, he changed his story: his father had left his mother for a woman he had met online, and his mother was hiding with family in Massachusetts. The police searched the house. In a closet they found a large, dried pool of what proved to be Marian's blood. Confronted, James Jr. said his father had killed his mother during a fight and fled with the body. He then changed his account again and said he had killed his father in revenge. A police dog searching the yard alerted on the septic tank. Officers dug it up, lifted the lid and found the bodies of James Sr. and Marian inside. The medical examiner estimated they had been dead about seventeen days and concluded they died from blows to the back of the head. A grub hoe, a tool with a hoe on one side and a hammer on the other, was found beneath the bodies and matched their injuries. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed James Jr. himself said he had killed his parents with premeditation and calculation because he wanted their money, their cars and their home to share with his girlfriend. Relatives described his parents as loving and devoted; his sister Dawn called him an evil coward in court, and his sister Sherry said she wished Rhode Island had a death penalty. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now