Police piece together Captain Fredy’s last days

2 Warwick men arrested for murder, money believed to be motive

John Howell
Posted 8/25/15

Captain Fredy was blessed.

That may sound strange to those who know the events of the past three weeks, and of the arrest of two Warwick men for murder after his decomposed body was discovered on …

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Police piece together Captain Fredy’s last days

2 Warwick men arrested for murder, money believed to be motive

Posted

Captain Fredy was blessed.

That may sound strange to those who know the events of the past three weeks, and of the arrest of two Warwick men for murder after his decomposed body was discovered on his yellow sailboat in Warwick Cove.

Fernando Silva, 70, was born in Portugal. While Captain Fredy came from a nation known for its explorers, it wasn’t until after he lost his used car and mechanic business, his marriage and his house in Cumberland – and spent five years living out of a car – that he found the sea, and a home.

Actually, it was a man he befriended at a Westerly homeless shelter who introduced him to boats. As Fredy tells the story in a book he wrote, the man had two boats and asked him if he would want to stay aboard one for the summer. Fredy didn’t leave the dock, but he fell in love with boats, and when fall turned to winter he was told the boat would be hauled and he would have to move out.

It was a beginning to an adventure that ended around the first of this month when, according to police, Richard Baribault, 40, and Troy Gunderway, 44, both of Warwick, murdered Captain Fredy.

The story covers 20 years and involves several boats, and most remarkably a solo voyage in a 20-foot boat with blue tarps as sails from Rhode Island to Key Largo, Fla. Along the way, Fredy meets many people, gets out of scrapes where he nearly losses his boat and, as his book relates, always seems to win at Keno when he needs the money most.

That winning streak may have done him in, as money is being offered as the motive for his killing.

This summer, Captain Fredy was back in these parts after a two- to three-year hiatus. He appeared off the Conimicut shore in May in a new boat for him. It was a 26-foot Columbia he had painted yellow, christened “Capella Star,” and paid a dollar for.

In exchange for a slip, he acted as security at a Taunton River boatyard last winter. He lived aboard his boat, heating it with small space heaters and maintaining a narrow channel free from ice around his boat that served as a refuge for scores of ducks. When interviewed in June, he said the ducks would peck at the hull to remind him it was time to be fed. Through his connections at the yard, he had found someone who had access to outdated bread and brought it to the yard by the carload.

While offshore in Conimicut, Fredy would hang out on his boat, listen to the radio or watch his handheld TV. Power was provided by a 12-volt battery that was trickle charged by a small solar panel mounted on deck. Frequently, he would paddle ashore to fill up water bottles, charge his phone or pedal his bike, which he kept at the end of a right of way to one of the village’s convenience stores to buy cigarettes or, if he felt lucky, play Keno.

The bike was there for part of the summer until stolen while he was in a convenience store. He called police and was furious they did little more than file a complaint.

Some days his son Ken, brother Faust or friend Donald “Duck” Waterman would meet him. They would drive him to Cumberland to Ken’s house, where he worked on Ken’s truck and played with his grandson, Nicholas. And then, depending on the wind and spirit of the moment, he would head out for Potters Cove on Prudence Island or Fog Land Point off Little Compton, where he’d fish, paddle ashore, talk with the locals and then, when the conditions were right, come back to Warwick.

Waterman, who is probably one of the last to see Fredy alive, remembers his streak of luck at the end of July. He said Fredy played Keno at one location, hit the numbers, and then went to another location, where it happened again.

Waterman said with his newfound riches, Fredy wanted to buy another motor and that he arranged for a slip at a Warwick Cove marina. The search for the engine was unfruitful, and on a visit to the Beacon last week Waterman described two men attempting to sell him a junk engine and the two of them leaving the scene at a high rate of speed, as the sellers were not happy when they didn’t make the sale.

Troy Gunderway was no stranger to Waterman. According to his account, Gunderway had been renting a room from his father and only recently was told to leave after not paying the full amount. Waterman last saw Fredy when he left him on his boat at the marina.

The day after the Aug. 4 storm, Waterman visited the marina, but Fredy’s boat was gone. He searched and spotted the distinctive yellow hull of Capella Star on a mooring off the end of Randall Avenue on the Warwick Neck side of the cove. Waterman said he wished he’d had his boat because he would have powered over to check on Fredy.

It is likely he would have been too late to save his friend, although all those details won’t come out until the police investigation is complete, or the trial.

According to Harbormaster Jeff Baris, the Capella Star came to his attention the afternoon of the storm. It was dragging anchor at the head of the cove near the overlook at the end of Samuel Gorton Avenue. Whoever had anchored it had failed to put out sufficient scope, and Capella Star had dragged into another boat.

Baris looked below to find a pile of clothes and cushions. It looked like it had been trashed, but in his 24 years of experience he’s seen lots of trashed boats. He didn’t believe anyone was aboard, nor did he find anything suspicious, so he took the boat in tow to the mooring off Randall Avenue. He also made a note of the boat’s registration and called the Department of Environmental Management. The boat turned out to be registered to the man in East Providence who sold it to Fredy for a dollar.

Fredy was especially proud of his purchase and planned to write a book, naming it “My One Dollar Yacht.”

The man had no idea how to find Fredy but agreed to take the vessel in possession until Fredy could be found. Baris was prepared to tow the boat to East Providence last Monday, but that all changed. The boat, sans mast, is now in the police yard.

Apparently, on the day of the storm, people were watching. According to reports, Baris learned the boat had been seen motoring up the cove and a man was seen paddling ashore in a small yellow dinghy – Fredy’s dinghy. The dinghy was pulled into the grasses at the head of the cove near the Warwick Neck overlook. It didn’t stay put long. When it started floating off, a boater grabbed it and tied it to a mooring. When the boater assigned to the mooring returned to find the dinghy, Baris got a call.

Everything seemed to fit. Fredy had motored up the cove and then left the boat, or so Baris assumed.

Meanwhile, some of Fredy’s family and friends were growing concerned. He wasn’t answering his cell phone and he hadn’t been seen on the Conimicut mooring. Fredy’s sister-in-law, Becky, called the Beacon, and the paper called the Coast Guard with a description of the boat and places that Fredy frequented.

There were no further developments until Saturday, Aug. 15.

On his rounds that day, Baris powered by Capella Star and noticed a terrible odor. He boarded the boat and it was stronger. He thought it might be a dead seagull. Under the clothes and the trash, he found Fredy’s badly decomposed body.

“It was the most awful thing I’ve seen,” he said.

The decomposition presented two problems, Col. Stephen McCarthy said on the day charges were brought against Gunderway and Baribault. It would be hard to establish the identity of the person, and it would be difficult to learn how he had died.

Yet in remarkably short time, detectives retraced Fredy’s movements more than 10 days earlier. McCartney applauded the work of the detectives and the speed that led to the arrests.

“I can’t say enough about the great job of the detective division, especially detective sergeants [Scott] Robillard and [Mark] Canning,” McCartney said yesterday.

According to Oakland Beach residents, police questioned numerous residents in an effort to piece together where Fredy had been and to find witnesses to the moving of his boat.

McCartney said the situation changed from what was first thought to be the unfortunate death of a man on his sailboat to a homicide investigation as detectives tracked down suspicious events.

“They did a very skilled job to get this,” McCartney said of detectives.

While the chief did not reveal specifics for fear of jeopardizing the case, he said, “witnesses came forward; something was amiss here,” and that the two suspects “gave incriminating statements.”

“It is clear that foul play is involved,” he said.

Asked about the body, the chief said he believes it still has not been positively identified and that the medical examiner continues to work on the cause of death.

As for a reason, the chief said, “It would appear money is the motivation.”

The pain was palpable in the voice of Fredy’s son, Ken, who was reached by telephone on Friday.

“He was the most genuine person you could see,” he said. His father was described as a man who would give the shirt off his back and a man of faith. Fredy had pictures of Jesus and the Virgin Mary in his boat.

Fredy leaves three sisters and two brothers. In addition to Faust, he had a brother, Tony. His surviving sisters are Clootilde Silva, Amelia Costa and Dolly Packard. A fourth sister, Aida Henio, died about three years ago. Like Fredy, all his siblings were born in Portugal. In addition to Ken, his wife Becky and their son Nicholas, Fredy leaves a second son, Steven, who also lives in Cumberland.

As of Friday arrangements hadn’t been made for a service.

Fredy’s book, “The Blessed Voyage,” which has not been published, is an account of that three-month trip that took him from Westerly to Key Largo. He had no prior sailing experience and really little more than a 20-foot sailboat. He couldn’t afford charts. He depended on people for advice and to help if they wanted. From his story, he encountered many generous and wonderful people, as well as a few that were out to take his money – never more than $500 or $600 – when he was lucky.

Throughout the pages runs a theme in the belief in the goodness of people and that the Lord will care for him. It’s the way he lived and sailed.

Comments

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  • allent

    murdered for a few hundred bucks that had to be divided by 2. almost unbelievable

    Thursday, August 27, 2015 Report this

  • Kcardoza

    What a sad turn of events. Why are people so cruel. ??

    Thursday, August 27, 2015 Report this

  • RISchadenfreude

    Kudos to alert citizens and the WPD for catching these two lowlifes. Based on their criminal records, Gunderway looks to be the leader here; his record spans a longer period and is more serious. Baribault is a bully (numerous domestic assaults) and a scofflaw and was most likely following Gunderway's lead. It's a shame that such a gentle soul as Capt. Fredy crossed paths with these two...RIP, Fredy.

    Thanks again to the WPD for putting these two in a cage where they belong.

    Monday, August 31, 2015 Report this