Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin announced that David Roscoe (age 60), of Westerly, RI, was found guilty today by a Kent County Superior Court jury for the 1990 murder and sexual assault of Germaine Mouchon of West Warwick. The jury returned the verdict after three and one half hours of deliberations after a six-day trial presided over by Superior Court Justice Brian Stern.
During the trial, the State proved that in the early morning hours of August 4, 1990, David Roscoe sexually assaulted and murdered Germaine Mouchon, who was 85 years old at the time, in her Echo Valley apartment in West Warwick.
Despite a thorough investigation at the time, police were unable to develop a suspect in this horrific crime. During the course of the autopsy, the medical examiner discovered sperm in the body of the victim. Although that evidence was collected and stored, since DNA testing was at it's infancy in 1990, it did not lead to a suspect.
In August 2015, Richard Mouchon, Germaine's grandson, inquired about his grandmother's case with the West Warwick Police. West Warwick Police Detective Thomas Nye pulled the file and requested a DNA test be performed on the forensic evidence collected at the scene. The DNA was run through Combined DNA Index System, commonly known as CODIS. Results came back with Roscoe, who had been previously convicted of child molestation and felony assault, as a match for the DNA.
Roscoe was subsequently arrested and indicted for the murder and sexual assault.
"I cannot imagine the pain and grief the Mouchon family has felt all these years knowing that no one had been held responsible for the death of their mother and grandmother. I hope today's verdict brings them some sense of relief," said Attorney General Kilmartin. "Although advances in DNA evidence played a significant role in solving this cold case, it still took solid police work of Detective Nye and the West Warwick Police Department to bring this case to the arrest, indictment, and finally today's guilty verdict of the defendant."
Assistant Attorney General and Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division Jay Sullivan and Special Assistant Attorney General Lauren Iannelli prosecuted the case on behalf of the Office of Attorney General.