{{Short description|American serial killer (born 1966)}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox serial killer | name = Daniel Tavares | birth_name = Daniel Thomas Tavares Jr. | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1966}} | birth_place = Fall River, Massachusetts, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | conviction = '''Massachusetts'''{{bulleted list|Manslaughter|First degree murder}}'''Washington'''{{bulleted list|Aggravated first degree murder (2 counts)}} | sentence = '''Massachusetts'''<br>17 to 20 years (Manslaughter)<br>'''Both states'''<br>Life sentence without the possibility of parole | victims = 4 | beginyear = 1988 | endyear = 2007 | country = United States | states = Massachusetts, Washington | apprehended = November 2007 | imprisoned = Monroe Correctional Complex, Monroe, Washington }}
'''Daniel Thomas Tavares Jr.''' (born 1966) is an American serial killer who was convicted of stabbing his mother to death in 1991 and committing a double murder upon his release from prison in 2007. He also confessed to and was convicted for the 1988 murder of a woman found buried in a backyard.<ref name="Tavares1">{{Cite news |title=State's highest court denies reprieve for mass murderer Daniel Tavares |last=Martinez |first=Andrew |newspaper=The Boston Herald |url=https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/05/06/states-highest-court-denies-reprieve-for-mass-murderer-daniel-tavares/ |access-date=April 30, 2023 |archive-date=June 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200619050339/https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/05/06/states-highest-court-denies-reprieve-for-mass-murderer-daniel-tavares/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
==Early life== Tavares was born in 1966, the youngest of four children, to Ann and Daniel Tavares Sr., who was an officer in the US Navy. His parents divorced when he was four years old, and his father moved to Florida and remarried, leaving Daniel and his siblings to be raised by their single mother.<ref name="Tavares2">{{Cite news |title=How Daniel Tavares went from 'runt' to murderer |last=Crimaldi |first=Laura |newspaper=The Boston Herald |url=https://www.bostonherald.com/2007/12/16/how-daniel-tavares-went-from-runt-to-murderer/ |access-date=April 30, 2023 |archive-date=July 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210725075352/https://www.bostonherald.com/2007/12/16/how-daniel-tavares-went-from-runt-to-murderer/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
Tavares dropped out of school in the eighth grade and was first arrested at age 19 for an assault committed during an overnight burglary. A friend of the Tavares family wrote to the judge that Tavares was a "very sincere and honest young man" and said, "I do not believe that you will see this person in your court again once this ordeal is over." Subsequently, Tavares was sentenced to one year of probation, and months later, he was charged with trespassing and possession of marijuana and received another five months of probation. Months later, he was charged with robbery and given a prison sentence for violating his probation conditions. He would be charged several more times throughout the mid- to late 1980s for drug possession, disorderly conduct, and larceny.<ref name="Tavares2"/>
In 1988, Tavares moved to Florida with his father, whom he had not seen since his early childhood. His father tried to get him counseling for his drug addiction and got him a job as an apprentice welder. His attempts at rehabilitating his son failed when Tavares was caught with a stolen checkbook. He later returned to his mother's home in Massachusetts. Tavares's mental health quickly deteriorated, and he was using several pharmaceutical drugs, including fluphenazine, a drug used to treat schizophrenia.<ref name="Tavares2"/>
==Murders and imprisonment== On July 10, 1991, Tavares stabbed his mother 26 times in their home with a carving knife.<ref name="Tavares3">{{Cite news |title=You be the judge: How a violent con was released, only to commit murder |last=Taormina |first=Barbara |newspaper=The State Journal-Register |url=https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/2007/12/07/you-be-judge-how-violent/47256246007/ |access-date=April 30, 2023 |archive-date=April 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230430092225/https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/2007/12/07/you-be-judge-how-violent/47256246007/ |url-status=live}}</ref> During the incident, he also stabbed Richard Pires, who wrote a letter recommending leniency for his assault charge in 1985. When police arrived, Tavares was banging his head on the ceiling, proclaiming, "I can't take it. I'm hearing voices, and I can't take it." He would later give a variety of explanations for why he killed his mother, including that he was given an LSD-laced drink at a bar hours earlier and that his mother's two boyfriends would regularly force him to engage in sexual acts with her, which caused him to snap. In June 1992, Tavares pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 17 to 20 years in prison. During his imprisonment, he would file numerous lawsuits and claim that he was harassed and assaulted by correctional officers for being gay.<ref name="Tavares2"/>
In June 2007, Tavares was released from prison and relocated to Washington. On November 17, 2007, he fatally shot his neighbors Beverly and Brian Mauck in their home. He was arrested and claimed to have murdered them because they owed him $50 for a tattoo and had disrespected him.<ref name="Tavares3"/> In February 2008, Tavares received a life sentence for the murders.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Family of slain Graham couple seeks $20M over killer's early prison release |last=Sullivan |first=Jennifer |newspaper=Seattle Times |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/family-of-slain-graham-couple-seeks-20m-over-killers-early-prison-release/ |access-date=April 30, 2023 |archive-date=October 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022043815/https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/family-of-slain-graham-couple-seeks-20m-over-killers-early-prison-release/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=The fateful release of 'pure evilness' |last=Tizon |first=Tomas |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-dec-02-na-tavares2-story.html |access-date=April 30, 2023 |archive-date=February 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226210539/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-dec-02-na-tavares2-story.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
In 2015, Tavares was found guilty of the October 27, 1988, murder of Gayle Botelho, who was found buried beneath a tree in the backyard of his previous address. Prosecutors stated that she was murdered over a cocaine debt. He confessed to the murder on at least four occasions, first to law enforcement while imprisoned in 2000. On another occasion, he claimed not to be the person who shot her, stating that she was killed by "rival drug dealers".<ref>{{Cite news |title=Prosecutor: Daniel Tavares killed Gayle Botelho over cocaine debt |last=O'Connor |first=Kevin |newspaper=The Herald News |url=https://www.heraldnews.com/story/news/crime/2015/11/18/prosecutor-daniel-tavares-killed-gayle/32987574007/ |access-date=April 30, 2023 |archive-date=April 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230430090512/https://www.heraldnews.com/story/news/crime/2015/11/18/prosecutor-daniel-tavares-killed-gayle/32987574007/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=SJC upholds conviction of Fall River man who killed woman in 1988 and buried her in backyard |last=Ellement |first=John |newspaper=The Boston Globe |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/05/06/metro/sjc-upholds-conviction-fall-river-man-who-killed-woman-1988-buried-her-backyard/ |access-date=April 30, 2023 |archive-date=October 31, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031113551/https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/05/06/metro/sjc-upholds-conviction-fall-river-man-who-killed-woman-1988-buried-her-backyard/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
As of 2020, he is serving a life sentence at Monroe Correctional Complex in Monroe, Washington.<ref name="Tavares1"/>
==See also== * List of serial killers in the United States
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Tavares, Daniel}} Category:1966 births Category:American people convicted of murder Category:American people of Portuguese descent Category:Living people Category:People convicted of murder by Washington (state) Category:People from Fall River, Massachusetts Category:Perpetrators of matricide Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Washington (state) Category:Serial killers from Massachusetts Category:Serial killers from Washington (state)