Man arraigned in fatal shooting
He is held without bail in 2006 case
A 22-year-old Roxbury man was arraigned yesterday on charges he fatally shot an 18-year-old in Dorchester whose body went missing for nearly a week in 2006.
Manuel “Junior’’ Dasilva was ordered held without bail after pleading not guilty in Dorchester District Court to a charge of murder in the death of Guiliardo M. Rodrigues, killed on Draper Street early on April 1, 2006. Dasilva, who was arrested last night, was also charged with unlawful possession of a firearm.
Prosecutors said Dasilva is one of two people who approached the area of 122 Draper St. in a sport utility vehicle that morning and fired multiple shots at three people. They said two firearms were used in the attack.
Two of the people targeted had escaped, but Rodrigues went missing and was initially feared to have been kidnapped.
In the days after the shooting, Dasilva allegedly admitted to others that he had been involved, but he said no one had been struck or kidnapped, prosecutors said.
Three days after the shooting, police arrested Dasilva on charges of unlawfully carrying a firearm, for which he served 18 months in jail.
Police later linked the firearm he was carrying to some of the shell casings found on Draper Street after the shooting. Other shell casings and the round that killed Rodrigues were found to have come from a different firearm.
On April 7, 2006, Rodrigues’s body was found in bushes near Mount Ida Road, close to where he had last been seen running away from the attack. An autopsy concluded that he died of a gunshot wound to his back.
Michael Doolin, a Dorchester lawyer appointed yesterday to represent Dasilva, cast doubt on the prosecutors’ account.
“I would suggest that the facts as presented in court are rather murky and that the government doesn’t have a very strong case,’’ Doolin said. “I fully expect he will be acquitted.’’
Relatives of Rodrigues did not return calls.
Shortly after the shooting, the victim’s relatives said he was in Dorchester, where he grew up, visiting the family and friends he left three years before when his parents, Ligia and Walter Rodrigues, moved to Pawtucket, R.I.
Guiliardo Rodrigues was the second-youngest of two brothers and five sisters, and he made the 45-minute trip about once every other week, staying with different family members.
Prosecutors yesterday said that police homicide detectives and prosecutors recently obtained additional information that supported the murder charge.
“Because of the ongoing nature of the investigation, I can’t say more now,’’ said Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney’s office.
“The evidence suggests the presence of a second gunman at the scene, and we urge anyone with information on his or her identity to contact Boston police homicide detectives,’’ Wark said.
David Abel can be reached at dabel@globe.com. 