Related: A man was charged with killing a girl decades after she went missing. The case fell apart, and the accusation cost him everything.
When he was arrested five years ago for the 1988 death of 10-year-old Christine Cole, Monteiro’s life was upended. Even though the murder charge was dropped six months later and no evidence has ever been found tying him to the girl’s drowning death, he lost his job, his apartment, and became fearful of the police.
And the police never stopped accusing him of murder — even though there was no evidence of foul play.
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Monteiro filed a lawsuit in January 2021 against city of Pawtucket, the detective who arrested him, her police chief and major, another detective, and a state forensic scientist. The trial was set for Dec. 2. But on Nov. 22, the case was referred to Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. for a settlement conference. All of the parties met on Monday and Tuesday,and they reached an agreement Tuesday. The trial was canceled and the lawsuit will be dismissed.
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The city of Pawtucket is not admitting to wrongdoing, said Monteiro’s lawyer, Mark Loevy-Reyes of Boston. As recently as Monday, the Pawtucket Police Department maintained that Christine’s death was “an active homicide case and Mr. Monterio is still the primary suspect,” according to Grace Voll, a spokeswoman for Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien. On Tuesday, Voll acknowledged that the city knew of the settlement, but said “until the settlement paperwork has been finalized and signed, the City reserves further comment.” She referred questions from the Globe on Tuesday to Chief Tina Goncalves, who did not immediately respond.
“I’m a little disappointed we’re not going to court, but I don’t think they want to go to court either because they know they made a mistake,” Monteiro told the Globe Tuesday, as his sister, Rita Correia, translated from the Cape Verdean Creole. “What I wish they could do is apologize, which they’re not going to do, but I want to clear my name.”
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Christine Cole, a troubled child and frequent runaway, had disappeared while on an errand for her mother on brutally cold January night in 1988. Her fully clothed body washed up on a beach at Conimicut Point in Warwick seven and a half weeks later, with no sign of trauma. While police investigated her disappearance and death as a homicide, they said at the time that there was no evidence that the girl had been murdered.
However, 30 years later, the new head of the Pawtucket police cold-case unit, Detective Susan Cormier, zeroed in on Monteiro, claiming that DNA evidence connected him to the child. Her case fell apart six months later, and the murder charge was dismissed.
Monteiro’s lawsuit uncovered documents and depositions that showed Cormier’s shoddy work history and false and misleading statements in her warrants to have him arrested, including misinterpreting DNA results. An investigation by the Boston Globe found that Christine’s death was thought to be an accident by the original lead investigator, and that the police never had evidence of murder. The medical examiner at the time had ruled the girl’s death was “undetermined,” not a homicide.
The Globe’s investigation and Monteiro’s lawsuit uncovered a lack of training for detectives at the Pawtucket Police Department, including in understanding DNA forensics, drafting warrants, or policies requiring supervisors to review cases before seeking warrants. Cormier also interrogated Monteiro without an interpreter, and a police major rebuffed a Cape Verdean captain’s request to act as a translator.
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Correia said that her brother would love to request the Pawtucket police go through training, but that wasn’t part of the settlement.
“My wish was for them to apologize. I know they’re not going to do it,” Monteiro said. “I hope they do their job thoroughly so this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
Monteiro said the $1 million settlement won’t change his life. He is still fearful from being arrested. He lives with his sister, who said he never goes out alone.
“It will never clear my name,” he said. “Nothing will clear my name.”
This article has been updated to include the amount of the settlement and a statement from the spokesperson for the Pawtucket mayor.
Amanda Milkovits can be reached at amanda.milkovits@globe.com. Follow her @AmandaMilkovits.
