Girl, 13, Slain on Net Date
Met man, 25, at mall, after e-mail exchange
By Bill Egbert, Austin Fenner and Robert Ingrassia, Daily News Staff Writers
Originally published in the Daily News, May 21, 2002
Christina Long was 13, a sweet girl and a sixth-grade cheerleader at a Catholic school in Danbury, Conn.
Saul Dos Reis, 25, was a married man from Greenwich, Conn., who authorities say trolled the Internet using the screen name "HOT ES300" an apparent reference to the Lexus neighbors saw him driving.
On Friday night, police said, Dos Reis lured Christina from her aunt's home for a tryst at Danbury Fair Mall.
Cops found her body yesterday along a secluded road in a remote part of Greenwich near Westchester County Airport.
Authorities said Dos Reis, whom they'd tracked down from e-mails on Christina's computer, led them to the body. An autopsy showed the girl had been strangled.
Dos Reis was being held without bail on a federal charge of using the Internet to entice a child into sexual activity. Authorities said they were planning to charge him with murder but hadn't decided whether to use state laws or federal statutes.
The killing brought new warnings to parents about the dangers lurking on the Internet for their children.
"No parents would allow a stranger into their house to engage their child in conversation, but if you're not aware of what your child is doing on the Internet, that's exactly what's happening," said John Danaher, the U.S. attorney in New Haven.
Dropped Off at Mall
The tragedy unfolded after Christina was dropped off at the mall at 5 p.m. Friday, according to police and an FBI affidavit.
Christina's aunt whom the teen lived with became worried when she couldn't find her at the mall hours later and called police. As concern for the missing girl mounted, the aunt showed Danbury cops a computer the teen had been using.
That's where authorities said they found e-mails from HOT ES300 to Christina, including plans for a Friday night rendezvous. Through America Online, cops traced the account to Silviani Arruda in Greenwich, who said Dos Reis, her son, had been using her AOL account.
Dos Reis agreed to be interviewed and admitted having sex with Christina the night she vanished, according to FBI Special Agent Donald Klebert. Dos Reis also allegedly told the agent they had met for sex before.
Investigators continued to treat the matter as a missing-person case. But they said Dos Reis came clean late Sunday and led investigators to the body shortly after midnight.
School officials in Danbury said Christina had attended St. Peter School for a year and was baptized Catholic a few months ago. Principal Josephine Ferry described Christina, who'd been held back a grade in recent years, as a well-mannered girl who was co-captain of the cheerleading squad.
The Rev. Albert Audette, the school's pastor, said Christina's aunt is devastated.
"There's a great deal of blame and pain in her right now," Audette said. "The aunt blames herself for not knowing enough about what her niece was doing on the Internet."
Dos Reis lives with his wife in an apartment above a gift shop and art gallery along a quaint stretch of stores in Greenwich.
Neighbor Omar Romero said Dos Reis, who doesn't have children, works for his father's restaurant, Cafe Brazil, in Port Chester, Westchester County. He attended Greenwich High School and is pictured as a senior in the 1997 yearbook.
Romero said Dos Reis had recently bought a new computer.
"I guess you never know your neighbor," he said.
Dos Reis, a Brazilian who had an expired visitor's visa, apparently had no criminal record, according to cops.
Landlord Thomas Heaslip said Dos Reis "seemed like your average Joe. I'm surprised he could do what he did on the Internet, because he didn't speak English well."
Dos Reis' lawyer, James Pickerstein of Southport, Conn., declined to comment but said the federal complaint against Dos Reis offered little evidence to back up the charge.
