The Brian and Beverly Mauck murders took place on November 17, 2007, when the young married couple were shot to death in their Graham, Washington home by their neighbor Daniel Tavares Jr., a Massachusetts man who had been released from prison months earlier after serving 16 years for killing his mother. Tavares is now serving life without the possibility of parole. The case drew national attention less for the crime than for the sequence of decisions that put a violent offender on the same gravel road as his victims.
Who the Maucks Were
Brian Mauck, 30, worked as an air-conditioning technician in Auburn. Beverly Mauck, 28, worked at a car dealership in McKenna. They had been married about a year and a half and lived on a private gravel road in the rural Pierce County community of Graham. Friends described them as fun-loving and adventurous: they rode Harley-Davidsons, scuba dived, were planning a diving trip to the Caribbean, and were planning to start a family.1Los Angeles Times. Mass. Convict Charged in Graham Double Slaying2HeraldNet. Family, Friends Mourn Slain Graham Couple
According to a Pierce County Sheriff’s spokesman, Ed Troyer, the Maucks had no idea their neighbor had a criminal past.1Los Angeles Times. Mass. Convict Charged in Graham Double Slaying
Who Daniel Tavares Jr. Was
Tavares grew up in the Fall River and Somerset area of southeastern Massachusetts. Between 1985 and 1989 he accumulated charges including burglary, robbery, larceny, drug possession, and disorderly conduct.3Boston Herald. How Daniel Tavares Went From Runt to Murderer
In October 1988, he killed Gayle Botelho, a 32-year-old woman who lived across the street from him in Fall River. Prosecutors said he lured her to his bedroom under the pretense of fronting her cocaine, tried to shoot her with a handgun that jammed, stabbed her repeatedly, and buried her body in his backyard. The crime went unsolved for years.4HeraldNews. Prosecutor: Daniel Tavares Killed Gayle Botelho
On July 10, 1991, Tavares stabbed his 46-year-old mother, Ann Marie Tavares, at least 15 times at their Somerset home, and also stabbed a family friend, Richard Pires. He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter in June 1992 and was sentenced to 17 to 20 years in state prison. Corrections records described constant violent outbursts, conflicts with guards, and extended stints in solitary. The Secretary of Public Safety at the time called him “too violent to treat” for mental health services.3Boston Herald. How Daniel Tavares Went From Runt to Murderer
How He Ended Up Free in Washington
By mid-2007 Tavares had served roughly 16 years and was set for release. He was not supposed to walk out unimpeded. He had assaulted at least one corrections officer during his sentence, and prosecutors filed assault charges. The paperwork, delayed in part by staffing changes at the Department of Correction, reached court only days before his release date.5Boston Herald. A Killer’s Release
District Court Judge Martha Brennan set bail at $100,000. When the case moved up to Superior Court, Judge Kathe Tuttman overturned that bail and released Tavares on personal recognizance on July 16, 2007. Tuttman noted that he had completed his underlying sentence, had no history of failing to appear, and that prosecutors had not presented evidence at a dangerousness hearing. She declined a request for GPS monitoring and ordered him to live with his sister, keep a job, and check in with probation three times a week. Assistant District Attorney William Loughlin had warned the court about Tavares’s violent history, including acts committed in prison. Defense attorney Barry Dynice argued that corrections officials had deliberately held the assault referrals until the eve of release to keep him locked up, and Tuttman appeared to credit that argument.6Seattle Times. Mass. Chief Justice Defends Judge Who Freed Killer Accused in Graham Slayings5Boston Herald. A Killer’s Release1Los Angeles Times. Mass. Convict Charged in Graham Double Slaying
Tavares skipped a mandatory court date and left the Boston area. He had met Jennifer Freitas through a prison pen-pal program, and on July 30, 2007 the two married. They moved into a trailer on the same private gravel road as the Maucks in Graham, only a couple of hundred yards from the couple’s home.7Seattle Times. Did Graham Pair Die Over a $50 Debt
The Murders
On the morning of November 17, 2007, Tavares walked to the Maucks’ home. According to charging papers, he told police he went there to collect a $50 debt from Brian Mauck. He said Brian called him an insulting name and that, after two decades in prison, he “was not going to put up with” being disrespected. He drew a .22-caliber handgun, wrapped the barrel in a towel, and shot Brian in the face.8Cape Cod Times. Mass. Convict Charged With Wash. Murders1Los Angeles Times. Mass. Convict Charged in Graham Double Slaying
Beverly tried to run. Tavares caught her by the hair and shot her in the back of the head. Each victim was shot three times. He then dragged Beverly’s body to where Brian lay, put her over him, and covered both with a blanket, telling police later he did it because he “respected them.” Troyer, the sheriff’s spokesman, offered a different theory: that Tavares had likely tried to burglarize the home and was caught in the act.1Los Angeles Times. Mass. Convict Charged in Graham Double Slaying
Arrest and Confession
Investigators found bloody shoe prints on the floor of the Maucks’ home and a bloody palm print on a doorjamb. Detectives seized shoes from Tavares whose treads matched the impressions.7Seattle Times. Did Graham Pair Die Over a $50 Debt
Questioned by police, Tavares first denied any involvement. He said he had been in bed with his wife when he heard shots and claimed to have seen two men and a red truck near the Maucks’ home. Confronted with the physical evidence, he confessed.8Cape Cod Times. Mass. Convict Charged With Wash. Murders1Los Angeles Times. Mass. Convict Charged in Graham Double Slaying
Jennifer Tavares was charged with rendering criminal assistance for lying to detectives to build a false alibi and helping him dispose of the murder weapon. Because the person she assisted was a family member, the charge was reduced from a felony to a gross misdemeanor. She pleaded guilty and on March 7, 2008 was sentenced to the maximum penalty of one year in the Pierce County Jail, along with $700 in penalties and court costs and two years of probation. It was her first offense.9Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Wife to Serve Time for Role in Murder
The Plea and Sentence
Tavares was charged with two counts of aggravated first-degree murder and unlawful possession of a firearm. In February 2008 he agreed to plead guilty to the murders in exchange for life in prison without the possibility of parole, avoiding the death penalty. Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Gerald A. Horne said at the time, “Mr. Tavares will die in prison, something that the victim’s family have felt very strong about.”10Boston Herald. Mom-Killer Tavares to Plead Guilty, Escape Execution
The Wrongful-Death Lawsuit
The Mauck families filed a federal wrongful-death lawsuit alleging that Massachusetts officials bore responsibility for the murders. The case, captioned Slater v. Clarke, named five defendants: former Public Safety Secretary Kevin M. Burke, State Police Lieutenant Richard S. Range, Worcester County Assistant District Attorney Erin Donnelly, Department of Correction staffer William Lochrie, and DOC Commissioner Harold W. Clarke.11Boston Herald. Victims’ Kin Sue Over Killer’s Early Release
The families made two central claims. First, that Tavares had been improperly credited with 698 days of “statutory good time,” a reduction that helped push his release date forward. Second, that after Tavares fled to Washington and officials became aware of his location as early as August 2007, authorities “inexplicably, purposely, and with great deliberate indifference” chose not to extradite him. The warrant for skipping court authorized detention only if he was found in New England, leaving him effectively free in Washington.12Courthouse News Service. Massachusetts Not Liable for Washington Murders11Boston Herald. Victims’ Kin Sue Over Killer’s Early Release
U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton initially allowed the case to proceed, refusing to grant the defendants immunity. On appeal, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously reversed and dismissed the case on November 19, 2012. Writing for the panel, Judge Morgan Christen held that the defendants were entitled to absolute immunity because a decision to extradite, or to limit the geographic scope of an extradition request, is “intimately associated with the judicial phase of the criminal process” and is protected in the same way as a prosecutor’s charging decision.13Justia. Slater v. Clarke, No. 11-35699
No formal disciplinary action, reassignment, or judicial review was taken against Judge Tuttman. Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Margaret Marshall and Chief Justice of Administration and Management Robert Mulligan issued a joint statement declaring that Tuttman “made no mistake” and condemning what they called the “public vilification of a conscientious and hardworking judge.”14ABA Journal. Jurists Defend Mass. Judge in Murder Case
A Second Life Sentence for a 1988 Cold Case
While serving his Washington sentence, Tavares was tied back to the 1988 Fall River killing of Gayle Botelho. In 2000, during his original manslaughter sentence, he had tried to trade information about her disappearance for a reduced sentence, and police found human remains buried in the backyard of his former June Street home along with a bloodstained section of flooring in his old bedroom. The remains were identified as Botelho.15Bristol County District Attorney. Daniel Tavares Convicted of 1988 Fall River Murder
Tavares initially claimed he had only been a witness. In 2012, after learning that a book about the case portrayed him as a police informant, he confessed to the murder, telling authorities he came forward to avoid being labeled a “rat” in prison. He provided additional written confessions in 2013 and was indicted by a grand jury in September 2013. On December 1, 2015, a jury convicted him of first-degree murder on theories of deliberate premeditation and extreme atrocity or cruelty. Superior Court Judge Gary Nickerson sentenced him to life without the possibility of parole, to be served consecutively after his Washington sentence. The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts affirmed the conviction on May 6, 2020.16FindLaw. Commonwealth v. Tavares, SJC-1263115Bristol County District Attorney. Daniel Tavares Convicted of 1988 Fall River Murder
Daniel Tavares Jr. is serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole: one in Washington for the murders of Brian and Beverly Mauck, and one in Massachusetts for the murder of Gayle Botelho.