'A special kind of evil': RI man sentenced for murdering grandmother to pawn jewelry for drugs
PROVIDENCE – Eudora Gustafson took her troubled grandson not once, but twice into her Bristol home. She alone was in his corner after he alienated friends and family.
Raymond Paiva IV, now 30, rewarded 66-year-old Gustafson “with a special kind of evil” by killing his sole supporter in order to steal rings and other trinkets worth just a few hundred dollars, a prosecutor told the court Tuesday.
“This case has taken a devastating toll on this family,” Assistant Attorney General John Moreira said.
The depravity of Paiva’s crimes – smothering his grandmother with a pillow and then covering her head with a trash bag and pulling the drawstring tightly around her neck – was not lost on Superior Court Judge Stephen P. Nugent at Paiva’s sentencing Tuesday.
Nugent mentioned that he tries to find a redeeming quality in every person he sentences.
“In your case, I can’t think of anything good to say about you. You not only took Mrs. Gustafson’s life, but you took her husband’s life,” the judge said after hearing Gustafson's husband's courtroom statement.
Guilty plea with intentions to cooperate
Paiva, of Warren, pleaded guilty last week to conspiring with his girlfriend, Selena Martinez, 28, to murder Gustafson and steal her belongings, including jewelry, half-dollar coins and a checkbook.
Martinez’s case remains pending. Paiva has agreed to testify against her at trial. She remains held at the Adult Correctional Institutions.
Nugent sentenced Paiva on Tuesday to 60 years in prison, with 40 years to serve, plus a total of 60 years probation on various charges. He received a 10-year sentence for conspiracy to be served concurrently.
Paiva also pleaded guilty to four counts of receiving stolen goods, less than $1,500; two counts of forgery; and one count of obtaining property under false pretenses, less than $1,500. He must pay $540 in restitution.
He received credit for the time he has served since his February 2017 arrest.
“Hopefully, you can take that time to think about the evil you visited upon,” Nugent said.
A husband’s pain: His wife lost to a grandson's drug addiction
Gustafson’s widower, Mark, told of meeting his wife in 1988 while he was stationed with the Navy in Newport. One of the first women to volunteer for the Bristol Rescue Squad, his wife was extremely caring and loved spending time with her three children and six grandchildren, he said.
He described finding his wife’s body after receiving a call from the bank that someone tried to forge one of her checks. He removed the trash bag from her head and tried to perform CPR.
His wife’s death, he said, left him unable to function and drinking heavily. He could not bear being in the house and has since moved to Michigan.
Moreira, who prosecuted the case with David Bonzagni, noted that knowing that a loved one was slain by a family member “compounds the grief beyond belief.”
Eudora Gustafson had taken Paiva and his girlfriend into their Sowams Drive home months before the killling on Feb. 10, 2017.
That day, Paiva was at his grandparents' home in Bristol after using heroin and was looking to buy more.
He attacked his grandmother in the first-floor living room shortly after his grandfather left for work, first trying to smother her with a pillow and then resorting to strangling her with a trash bag, prosecutors said.
Paiva stole his grandmother’s rings, other jewelry, half-dollar coins and her checkbook and fled in her car. He and Martinez, of Exeter, pawned the rings for $140 and bought heroin in Providence.
Paiva then tried unsuccessfully to cash a $100 check from the checkbook at a nearby Citizens Bank, state prosecutors said.
Judge imposes no-contact order to protect grandfather
Nugent barred Paiva from making any contact with his grandfather as part of his sentence.
Mark Gustafson was joined in the courtroom by Eudora's Gustafson's son John McKenzie and Eudora's sister-in-law Donna McKenzie.
“How could you kill your own grandmother? Tell me?” Donna shouted as Paiva was led away.
Paiva didn’t look in their direction.
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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Raymond Paiva sentenced to 40 years for 2017 murder of his grandmother
