Son admits killing, mother says
Teen arraigned in cab driver's death
BROCKTON - In the past few weeks, Adilson Neves stopped eating, but the 17-year-old never said he was sick, his mother recalled yesterday. He stopped smiling, and that was unusual because he had a buoyant personality.
Ruth Resendez said she learned why the oldest of her four children had changed. He told her he was a killer.
" 'I don't plan to do it,' " Resendez quoted her son as telling her in the past four or five days. " 'It was by accident. I'm sorry.' "
In an interview outside Brockton District Court yesterday, Resendez said her son told her that he shot and killed Edward Conley, a 56-year-old father of two from Bridgewater, who was working for Cowen's Taxi Service when he drove onto Galen Street on Feb. 16.
Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz said Neves had accomplices who are being sought. `"It was a robbery that obviously had gone very bad," Cruz said after Neves was arraigned yesterday. "It is not over by any means. We are letting people understand that if they choose to commit a crime here in the city of Brockton, they will be caught, they will be prosecuted, and, I assure you, they will be convicted."
Resendez said she shared her account of her son's confession with a family friend, Elisa Fernandes, who was in court yesterday. Fernandes told the Globe that her brother, Jason, 14, was killed in Boston on New Year's Day in 2007. She said she now understands both sides of the murder equation.
"We wish we were there to chase him down and stop him," she said. "We are feeling their [the Conley family's] pain. We hope they accept an apology."
The two women spoke to the Globe after Neves pleaded not guilty in Brockton District Court to one count of first-degree murder in Conley's slaying.
James Conley, Jr., the victim's older brother, said his family was compassionate and would not reject the apology offered by Neves's mother.
"It's a little early for us to digest what his mother is trying to say," he said. "Of course, I feel bad for his mother, but I can't feel bad for him."
In court, Lewis A. Armistead Jr., an assistant Plymouth district attorney, said Neves gave a taped confession and was charged with the killing Monday. Armistead said Neves admitted he lured Conley to the dead-end street, jumped in the cab, and shot him in the head.
Armistead also said police recovered a distinctive red and black sneaker, size 10 1/2, at the scene that Neves told police was his. Armistead said DNA testing confirmed that blood stains came from Conley.
District Court Judge Julie J. Bernard ordered Neves held without bail.
Defense lawyer Arthur L. Kelly of Newton said outside the courtroom that he has not seen any of the evidence against Neves. "He is very nervous and concerned, as anyone would be in his position," Kelly said.
Neves was in court the same day that Governor Deval Patrick was there to be briefed on what Cruz called a surge of State Police troopers working for the past several weeks to reduce violent crime in Brockton.
The city has already had five killings this year.
Around 5:45 yesterday afternoon, police responded to a call from a residence on Battles Farm Road in Brockton, where they found a 15-year-old male with what appeared to be a single gunshot wound to the head, said Assistant District Attorney Bridget Norton Middleton.
The youth was rushed to an area hospital and pronounced dead about an hour later, Norton Middleton said.
The victim, whose identity was not being released last night, did not live at the residence where he was shot, said Middleton.
State Police assigned to the Plymouth district attorney's office and Brockton police were investigating last night, but did not have a suspect in custody, Norton Middleton said. 