Dos Reis Pleads Innocent to State Charges
By Martin B. Cassidy, Staff Writer
Originally published in the Greenwich Time, June 7, 2002
DANBURY — The town man accused of killing a 13-year-old Danbury girl during a sexual encounter arranged over the Internet pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and other charges yesterday in state Superior Court.
Saul dos Reis Jr., 24, stood quietly as Superior Court Judge Patrick L. Carroll III explained his rights to him. Dos Reis was arraigned on one count of first-degree manslaughter and two counts each of risk of injury to a minor and second-degree sexual assault in the strangling death of Christina Long.
The arrest warrant affidavit, filed by Danbury police last week and served yesterday, described interviews in which authorities said Dos Reis admitted to strangling Christina accidentally during sex on the night of May 17, and described sexual encounters he had with her that night and on May 10.
Dos Reis also will be arraigned today in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport on a federal charge of using the Internet to entice Christina, a sixth-grader at St. Peter School in Danbury, into a sexual relationship.
Carroll entered the not-guilty plea on Dos Reis' behalf, and Dos Reis' attorneys, Peter Tilem and James Lenihan of White Plains, N.Y., did not object. Tilem said the judge's entering the plea is not unusual, because most defendants plead not guilty.
The judge also granted State's Attorney Warren Murray's request for a continuance until July 16 to allow time for Dos Reis' attorneys to review the evidence against their client.
"Many agencies are involved, and it needs to be coordinated," Murray said.
As Dos Reis entered the courtroom, his mother, Silviane Arruda of Greenwich, dropped to her knees as her husband, Izaias Arruda, urged her to try to be calm. Throughout the proceeding she clasped her hands in prayer so tightly that they trembled.
After the arraignment, the Arrudas briefly answered questions outside the Danbury courthouse about their son, while Tilem and Lenihan looked on. Among the reporters present were those from Globo Television, Brazil's largest TV station, as well as daily newspapers from the metropolitan area.
Silviane Arruda said she spoke to her son via telephone Wednesday, and he inquired about his brothers and dog, but said he hadn't talked to his wife, Tatiana, since he was arrested. Dos Reis is being held in a Rhode Island prison.
"I told him to just call me and we pray together," she said.
After several minutes of questioning, Izaias Arruda asked the press to allow the couple to leave.
Dos Reis faces a maximum of 60 years in prison on the five state counts, and another 15 years on the federal Internet charge. Under state law, if Dos Reis had been charged with murder he could have been sentenced to death. But authorities charged him with first-degree manslaughter—engaging in reckless conduct that leads to the death of another person.
While the state prosecution has not commented on the manslaughter charge, Tilem and Lenihan have said it indicates that authorities believe Christina's killing was unintentional.
According to the arrest affidavit filed by Danbury police, Dos Reis confessed to FBI investigators during a polygraph test on May 19 that he strangled Christina while having sex with her.
State's Attorney Warren Murray declined comment on the contents of the warrant yesterday.
The affidavit said Dos Reis told police he met Christina online on April 28, while he was "cybering," and the two corresponded about sex and other subjects.
In other questioning, Dos Reis admitted picking the girl up at Danbury Fair mall on the nights of May 10 and May 17 and driving to the parking lot of a nearby fast-food restaurant for a sexual encounter, the affidavit said.
During the first encounter on May 10, Dos Reis said he and the girl had sexual contact short of intercourse. After the conclusion of the first encounter, the two photographed each other with a digital camera as a memento, the affidavit said.
In the warrant application, the name "Jane Doe" was used rather than the victim's real name because the alleged crime involved a sexual offense as well as an offense against a minor.
"Dos Reis made mention of showing Doe's picture to his friends because they wouldn't believe he was with her," the affidavit said.
Dos Reis told authorities on the night of May 17 Christina performed oral sex on him before they engaged in sexual intercourse, the affidavit said. Police also observed during questioning that Dos Reis had an injured left hand, which they said he told them had been hurt on the night of May 17 after leaving Danbury.
According to the affidavit, on May 19, Dos Reis also confessed to FBI investigators during a polygraph test that he dumped Christina's body in Greenwich. He led Greenwich and Danbury detectives to her body in a ravine off of Bowman Drive in Greenwich, according to the affidavit.
Lenihan said after the arraignment that authorities need to provide him a copy of the confession they claim they received from Dos Reis.
"A confession could mean everything or nothing," he said. "There are also questions about how he is said to have confessed and under what conditions he spoke."
Dos Reis is being held at the Donald E. Wyatt Correctional Facility in Central Falls, R.I., after being transferred from a facility in Bridgeport.
Lenihan said Dos Reis told him he prefers the Rhode Island facility because he is anonymous, and that at the Bridgeport jail corrections officers and inmates mocked him constantly.
Lenihan said Dos Reis' left hand is broken, and that the injury has not been treated.
The affidavits do not say how the hand was broken and Lenihan said he also didn't know.
