Mortal Danger

attempts to cover up his vicious acts. He had always blamed others for making him do what he did, or he denied committing his crimes at all. He blamed his mother for sexually molesting both himself and his daughter, although no one else was ever aware of that. He denied any guilt in the murder of Gayle Botelho, and he said Brian Mauck had insulted him and refused to pay him the fifty dollars he allegedly owed for a tattoo. And he attempted to cover up his crime in the deaths of Bev and Brian Mauck.
    Although his crimes and alleged crimes were horrific and seemed to have no logical motivation, Daniel Tavareswasn’t insane under the law, or even medically. His own father called him “evil.” And maybe he was.
    There was more evidence that Tavares had attempted to cover up the murders of his neighbors. On December 16, Jeff Freitas called the sheriff’s office to report that he had made a startling discovery when he moved his riding lawn mower out of his shed and began to dump the grass clippings out of the grass catcher. Some clothing dropped out, too: a pair of pants and a pillowcase, both of which had dried bloodstains on them. The jeans were splotched white where Tavares had poured bleach over them. Detectives finally located a burn pile near the Tavares trailer. It had a partially burned blue shirt tangled in it.
    Although he had denied it, Tavares had changed his clothes and hidden them to keep the investigators from finding his victims’ bloodstains there. He had gotten rid of the gun. He had made up a wildly untrue story to explain his facial injuries. He had told Jennifer exactly what to say to back up his story. He had lied and lied and lied.
     
    Although he avoided the death penalty, it is unlikely that Daniel Tavares will ever again see the world outside prison walls. For her part in helping him cover up the Mauck murders, Jennifer Lynn Tavares is serving a year in the Pierce County Jail.
    It wasn’t until after Tavares pleaded guilty to the Maucks’ murders, and received his life sentences, that Detective Sergeant Ben Benson glimpsed the rage that others had described. Benson and Tom Catey had spent many hours interviewing Tavares the Sunday after the homicideswere discovered. And through it all, the suspect had been remarkably civil.
    “After he confessed,” Benson recalled, “Daniel sat back and smiled. He didn’t even seem angry or upset.”
    But Benson had Tavares brought to his office after his sentencing.
    “I asked him if there was anything more he wanted to tell me. He was evasive, and he lied about having a fistfight with Brian Mauck. I corrected him, telling him I knew that wasn’t the truth.
    “He came out of his chair in a complete rage, headed right for me. Finally, I saw the monster that his victims must have seen. It was shocking—more so than any reaction I’ve ever witnessed. That, I believe, was the real Daniel Tavares.”
     
    It’s only natural to wonder if things could have been different. If time could be rewound, and if information had been shared and red flags given proper attention, are there many lives that would not have ended so soon, and many careers that would not be blemished?
    Karen Slater, Bev Mauck’s mother, takes some comfort in her belief that her small but feisty daughter did some damage to her killer. “He had to shoot her between the eyes to stop her,” Karen says. “I know in my heart that it was Bev who gave him that black eye and left bruises and cuts on his face with her elbow. Somehow, that makes me feel a little better.”
    Back in Massachusetts, Danny Tavares was allowed to plead guilty to lesser charges of manslaughter and attempted manslaughter in the savage murder of his mother and the attack on George Latsis, and he was never charged with Gayle Botelho’s murder.
    Many citizens of Bristol County, were horrified when they learned that Daniel Tavares had known all along where Gayle’s body was.
    If only he had been arrested in 1988, his mother might still be alive.
    If only he hadn’t been released from prison—despite his disruptive behavior—the Maucks might be alive.
    If he is, indeed, the Highway Killer of New Bedford—which is a more remote possibility—some of the eleven young women tossed away in the bushes and wild grass beside the roads might have survived.
    That is, of course, hindsight.
    The current district attorney of Bristol County, Sam Sutter, has reopened the investigation into the Highway Murders and the death of