MURDER BY THE SEA

Cops Say They’ve Cracked a 20-Year Cold Case With DNA in a Bloody Conch Shell

Police say David Reed used the giant shell to beat his half-sister to death before robbing her in 2001.

Authorities in Massachusetts announced Thursday that they had charged a man with the murder of his half-sister—20 years after the case went cold—thanks to DNA found on a conch shell used to kill her. Rosie Moniz was found murdered in her New Bedford home in March 2001, beaten to death. The murder went unsolved for 20 years, and her parents died without seeing significant progress in the case. But on Thursday, the Bristol County District Attorney’s office announced prosecutors had indicted David Reed, her half-brother, after finding Reed’s DNA inside a bloody conch shell used to beat Moniz. Reed allegedly curled his fingers into the inside of the shell for a better grip, which is where investigators say they found his DNA. The motive, the DA said, was simple robbery. Reed was arrested in September in Rhode Island.