Man Convicted Of Murder In 30-Year-Old Malden Cold Case: DA

MALDEN, MA — A Georgia man has been convicted of first-degree murder in connection to the 1991 killing of a Malden teen, according to a statement from Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan.

Rodney Daniels, 48, was arrested in South Fulton, GA in 2021 after a Middlesex grand jury indicted him on a charge of first-degree murder. He was found guilty of that charge Wednesday following a six-day trial.

Daniels was accused of fatally shooting 17-year-old Patricia Moreno, whose foster sister Daniels had been dating. Moreno was found with a gunshot wound to the head on the fire escape of a Henry Street apartment around 3 a.m. on July 20, 1991.

Ryan said Daniels, who occasionally stayed at the apartment, was interviewed shortly after Moreno's murder. He initially told investigators he had been sleeping in an armchair in the living room when he was awakened by two gunshots.

Investigators learned that Daniels had engaged in "threatening behavior" toward Moreno in the weeks leading up to the shooting and was known to have "multiple" handguns, Ryan said.

Police also found a new witness who lived in the apartment below Moreno's foster family at the time of the murder. That witness said he was awakened by a loud noise and looked up at the fire escape, where he saw someone matching Daniels's description immediately disappear back into the apartment, Ryan said.

A witness who had provided an alibi for Daniels in 1991 later admitted she lied to police investigators. The witness, who is now deceased, later admitted to friends and family that Daniels had killed Tricia, concealed the murder weapon inside an armchair, and then disposed of the gun.

Ryan credited her office's Cold Case Unit with the arrest.

“The team that worked in this case was not deterred by the passage of time and used every tool at their disposal to root out new information critical to this successful prosecution,” she said in a statement.