Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced Tuesday that a Bristol man has been convicted in Providence County Superior Court of the 2017 murder of his 62-year-old grandmother, Eudora Gustafson.
On September 21, 2023, in a hearing before Superior Court Justice Stephen P. Nugent, Raymond Paiva IV, 30, entered a guilty plea to one count of murder, one count of conspiracy to commit murder, four counts of receiving stolen goods (less than $1,500), two counts of forgery, and one count of obtaining property under false pretenses (less than $1,500). The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced on October 3, 2023, in Providence Superior Court.
Had the case proceeded to trial, the State was prepared to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that on February 10, 2017, the defendant killed his grandmother by asphyxiation, before robbing her in an attempt to get money for drugs.
During the afternoon of February 10, the defendant was at his grandparents’ home on Sowams Drive in Bristol. The evidence showed that he had recently used heroin and he wanted money to purchase additional heroin.
At approximately 3:15 p.m., the defendant’s grandfather left the house to go to work, leaving the defendant’s 62-year-old grandmother alone in the first floor living room. Shortly thereafter, the defendant attacked his grandmother in an attempt to gain access to the keys to her car.
The defendant attacked his grandmother, smothering her with a pillow, and covering her head with a trash bag with the drawstring drawn tightly around her neck.
The defendant then took his grandmother’s rings, additional jewelry from a bedroom safe, half-dollar coins, and her checkbook, before fleeing in her car. The defendant then attempted to cash a check from his grandmother’s checkbook at a nearby Citizen’s bank but was unsuccessful.
At approximately 7:00 p.m., the defendant pawned his grandmother’s jewelry at a pawn shop in North Providence, and then bought heroin at a location in Providence. The defendant was apprehended by the Providence Police Department shortly thereafter.
DNA evidence collected from the victim and the trash bag matched the defendant’s DNA.
The case against co-defendant Selena Martinez, who was charged with one count of murder, one count of assault with a dangerous weapon in a dwelling, one count of conspiracy to commit murder, one count of assault with a dangerous weapon, four counts of receiving stolen goods (less than $1,500), one count of forgery, and one count of obtaining property under false pretenses (less than $1,500), remains pending in Providence County Superior Court.
Assistant Attorney General John Moreira and Special Assistant Attorney General David Bonzagni of the Office of the Attorney General and Lieutenant Steven St. Pierre, and Detectives John Nappi, Adam Clifford, and Timothy Kearns of the Bristol Police Department led the investigation and prosecution of this case.
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