Alice Viera's Boyfriend - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

James T · 08-14-2008, 01:08 PM

I could not believe it when I watched the latest compilation & saw this case, so your girlfriends former partner who you know is controlling & abusive forces his way in & starts attacking her, so what does he do? Runs for the door, I googled it & finally found an article on the case & it said he hid on a balcony, rather than as the show said ran for help which is frankly gutless anyway- this guy may have been able to save her, would not anyone at least try to defend somebody they love? Here is the article.

Standing only feet from him in Superior Court, the slain woman's sister, Fatima Cardoso, angrily told Mr. Vieira his actions destroyed the tight-knit family.
"My sister was nothing to you but a good wife and a good mother to her kids," she told him.
"It has destroyed all of us, the whole family. I'm going to have to see if we can do some healing," she said minutes later on the courtroom steps after Mr. Vieira was lead out of the courtroom.
"I would rather have seen first-degree murder," she said. "Let him spend some time in jail. It's better than him having no time. This helps."
The 39-year-old Mr. Vieira, dressed in a dark grey pin-striped suit, said nothing except to acknowledge questions from Judge Walter E. Steele.
Assistant District Attorney Kevan J. Cunningham described the events that lead to the stabbing death of 31-year-old Alice Arruda Vieira on July 25, 1988.
Mrs. Vieira was at home with a new boyfriend, Antonio Rezendes, when her daughter Matilda, then 12, came to the house. The two soon began arguing, which lead to Matilda breaking a window. The girl then left the building to join her father -- Mr. Vieira -- who was waiting outside in a car.
Shortly afterwards there was a loud noise outside the apartment. According to Mr. Rezendes, Mrs. Vieira came out of the bathroom holding a blue nightgown.
"As she approached the rear door, it suddenly sprang open inward and Rezendes observed David Vieira ... who was also known to Mr. Rezendes, coming in with a large metal object raised above his head and he saw Mr. Vieira strike Alice Vieira twice with this metal object," Mr. Cunningham said.
As Mrs. Vieira staggered towards the rear hallway Mr. Rezendes ran out of the apartment to a landing a floor above.
"While he was standing there he heard Alice Vieira scream loudly three times and then it went completely quiet," Mr. Cunningham said.
A bloody knife and a dismantled car jack were found near her body. An autopsy found she was repeatedly stabbed after having been beaten with a blunt object.
Mr. Rezendes, who has since moved to the Azores, later identified a carjack as the metal object he saw raised above David Vieira's head. A detective later noticed a similarity between the knife found at the murder scene and other knives at the home where Mr. Vieira was staying.
Police later learned that a friend of Mr. Vieira, Ernestina Amaral helped Mr. Vieira get a bus ticket to Canada and gave investigators a letter he had written that day. She also told police of a conversation she had with Mr. Vieira before he left for Canada.
"He told Ernestina he took a knife and stabbed her and didn't know how many times," Mr. Cunningham said.
The letter contained a written apology to Alice's mother, he said.
"I'm sorry for having killed your daughter. There's nothing else I could do," he wrote.
After authorities found his car abandoned on Route 24 in Fall River, police began a six-year manhunt. He later was placed on the state's most wanted list.
Mr. Vieira's attorney, Alan Zwirblis of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, said his client welcomed the end of the case brought about by his guilty plea.
"David Vieira is grateful that this didn't go to trial because he didn't want to subject his children and family to any more public trauma over an already extremely traumatic incident," he said.
He was arrested at his home on St. Urbain Street in Montreal April 15, 1994, two days after authorities there were tipped to his whereabouts following a segment of the television show "Unsolved Mysteries" that told of his disappearance.
He was brought back to Massachusetts in October 1994 following lengthy extradition proceedings.
Mr. Vieira was separated from his wife of 14 years for two weeks before he killed her. They had one son and two daughters. At the time of the murder, Mrs. Vieira's cousin said she was trying to get a restraining order against her husband.
The cousin had taken the couple's three children to a Purchase Street daycare center the afternoon of the murder and became worried when Ms. Vieira failed to pick up her children.
Mrs. Cardoso said the Vieiras' joining was a "fixed marriage" from a old-world Portuguese family arranged so Mr. Vieira would not have to serve in the Army.

crystaldawn · 08-19-2008, 04:00 PM

I totally agree with you James. The first time I watched this I was struck by the fact that this new boyfriend who you would think would have cared about Alice watches her getting stabbed and then instead of trying to defend her runs away.

Interesting in the article about Alice and her daughter having some sort of argument resulting in the daughter breaking a window right before her murder. I'm assuming David was upset by it and came in to confront her. I wouldn't be surprised if he had been planning an attack on her for a while seeing as he would regularly beat her up. Is anyone else infuriated while watching the scene in the NBC version of this case (not sure if this scene made it to the Lifetime airing or not) where Alice is telling her parents how mean David is and how he beats her up and they basically tell her to just stay married because it would look bad if they got divorced. Real nice.

Oooga Chucka · 10-08-2011, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

I totally agree with you James. The first time I watched this I was struck by the fact that this new boyfriend who you would think would have cared about Alice watches her getting stabbed and then instead of trying to defend her runs away.

Interesting in the article about Alice and her daughter having some sort of argument resulting in the daughter breaking a window right before her murder. I'm assuming David was upset by it and came in to confront her. I wouldn't be surprised if he had been planning an attack on her for a while seeing as he would regularly beat her up. Is anyone else infuriated while watching the scene in the NBC version of this case (not sure if this scene made it to the Lifetime airing or not) where Alice is telling her parents how mean David is and how he beats her up and they basically tell her to just stay married because it would look bad if they got divorced. Real nice.

I'm with both of you. POS new boyfriend and POS parents. Absolutely tragic segment.

WishfulDreamer · 10-08-2011, 09:03 PM

I am so glad I wasn't the only one who thought this! I understand he was scared and I've never been in such a situation, but if someone I cared about was being attacked I would pick something up and try to fight him off, or do SOMETHING rather than run away. I know he later used a knife, but he was hitting her with something first. I would have grabbed something heavy and tried to hit him in the head, perhaps. Running only caused him to be able to beat her and then use a knife. It's just beyond frustrating! Even hiding for a second to call the police then trying to overpower him would have been better. I only would have condoned his behavior if Viera had used a gun, then it would have been too dangerous to even try approaching him.

zack007attack · 10-09-2011, 02:25 PM

Two words (for those who think her boyfriend could have successfuly helped her against a jealous lunatic with a knife, no offense):

Ronald Goldman

WishfulDreamer · 10-09-2011, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zack007attack

Two words (for those who think her boyfriend could have successfuly helped her against a jealous lunatic with a knife, no offense):

Ronald Goldman

The main difference here is that Viera did not have a knife at first. He was using something to hit his ex-wife and then obtained the knife after the boyfriend ran away.

XCalibur · 10-09-2011, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zack007attack

Two words (for those who think her boyfriend could have successfuly helped her against a jealous lunatic with a knife, no offense):

Ronald Goldman

Not sure thats applicable. I'm not convinced Goldman was ever a boyfriend, and we don't know for sure anyway that he had a chance to even run away.

I think if its someone you truly love, it hardly matters, you will risk your own life to help her.

everprincess · 10-09-2011, 10:03 PM

Frankly if I'd been the boyfriend and knew the history I would have had a baseball bat in my hand ready for him to strike. But that's just IMO.

wiseguy182 · 10-10-2011, 02:03 AM

I don't know, I think we are being just a tiny bit harsh on the boyfriend. He had a split second to make a decision in a life or death circumstance. He decided he wanted to live. We'll never know what happened, but he could have suffered a similar fate as Alice did. He was her boyfriend, but I think they had just gotten together, so it wasn't like they were married or even engaged. He probably didn't know alot about her.

dks64 · 10-10-2011, 03:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

I don't know, I think we are being just a tiny bit harsh on the boyfriend. He had a split second to make a decision in a life or death circumstance. He decided he wanted to live. We'll never know what happened, but he could have suffered a similar fate as Alice did. He was her boyfriend, but I think they had just gotten together, so it wasn't like they were married or even engaged. He probably didn't know alot about her.

This.

mystery_daisy · 10-10-2011, 04:38 AM

To me David was the bigger coward. To marry Alice to avoid the army and then to kill her like that, the mother of his 3 children. Then to run away and hide from police, leaving his children orphaned.

On the actions of the boyfriend, every situation is different. He did get away with his life, at least. You can't say what you would have done in that situation. Sometimes the best thing you can do is hide or play dead.

08-14-2008, 01:08 PM	#1
James T Member Senior Member Join Date: Apr 23, 2006 Location: England Posts: 1,571	Alice Viera's Boyfriend I could not believe it when I watched the latest compilation & saw this case, so your girlfriends former partner who you know is controlling & abusive forces his way in & starts attacking her, so what does he do? Runs for the door, I googled it & finally found an article on the case & it said he hid on a balcony, rather than as the show said ran for help which is frankly gutless anyway- this guy may have been able to save her, would not anyone at least try to defend somebody they love? Here is the article. Standing only feet from him in Superior Court, the slain woman's sister, Fatima Cardoso, angrily told Mr. Vieira his actions destroyed the tight-knit family. "My sister was nothing to you but a good wife and a good mother to her kids," she told him. "It has destroyed all of us, the whole family. I'm going to have to see if we can do some healing," she said minutes later on the courtroom steps after Mr. Vieira was lead out of the courtroom. "I would rather have seen first-degree murder," she said. "Let him spend some time in jail. It's better than him having no time. This helps." The 39-year-old Mr. Vieira, dressed in a dark grey pin-striped suit, said nothing except to acknowledge questions from Judge Walter E. Steele. Assistant District Attorney Kevan J. Cunningham described the events that lead to the stabbing death of 31-year-old Alice Arruda Vieira on July 25, 1988. Mrs. Vieira was at home with a new boyfriend, Antonio Rezendes, when her daughter Matilda, then 12, came to the house. The two soon began arguing, which lead to Matilda breaking a window. The girl then left the building to join her father -- Mr. Vieira -- who was waiting outside in a car. Shortly afterwards there was a loud noise outside the apartment. According to Mr. Rezendes, Mrs. Vieira came out of the bathroom holding a blue nightgown. "As she approached the rear door, it suddenly sprang open inward and Rezendes observed David Vieira ... who was also known to Mr. Rezendes, coming in with a large metal object raised above his head and he saw Mr. Vieira strike Alice Vieira twice with this metal object," Mr. Cunningham said. As Mrs. Vieira staggered towards the rear hallway Mr. Rezendes ran out of the apartment to a landing a floor above. "While he was standing there he heard Alice Vieira scream loudly three times and then it went completely quiet," Mr. Cunningham said. A bloody knife and a dismantled car jack were found near her body. An autopsy found she was repeatedly stabbed after having been beaten with a blunt object. Mr. Rezendes, who has since moved to the Azores, later identified a carjack as the metal object he saw raised above David Vieira's head. A detective later noticed a similarity between the knife found at the murder scene and other knives at the home where Mr. Vieira was staying. Police later learned that a friend of Mr. Vieira, Ernestina Amaral helped Mr. Vieira get a bus ticket to Canada and gave investigators a letter he had written that day. She also told police of a conversation she had with Mr. Vieira before he left for Canada. "He told Ernestina he took a knife and stabbed her and didn't know how many times," Mr. Cunningham said. The letter contained a written apology to Alice's mother, he said. "I'm sorry for having killed your daughter. There's nothing else I could do," he wrote. After authorities found his car abandoned on Route 24 in Fall River, police began a six-year manhunt. He later was placed on the state's most wanted list. Mr. Vieira's attorney, Alan Zwirblis of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, said his client welcomed the end of the case brought about by his guilty plea. "David Vieira is grateful that this didn't go to trial because he didn't want to subject his children and family to any more public trauma over an already extremely traumatic incident," he said. He was arrested at his home on St. Urbain Street in Montreal April 15, 1994, two days after authorities there were tipped to his whereabouts following a segment of the television show "Unsolved Mysteries" that told of his disappearance. He was brought back to Massachusetts in October 1994 following lengthy extradition proceedings. Mr. Vieira was separated from his wife of 14 years for two weeks before he killed her. They had one son and two daughters. At the time of the murder, Mrs. Vieira's cousin said she was trying to get a restraining order against her husband. The cousin had taken the couple's three children to a Purchase Street daycare center the afternoon of the murder and became worried when Ms. Vieira failed to pick up her children. Mrs. Cardoso said the Vieiras' joining was a "fixed marriage" from a old-world Portuguese family arranged so Mr. Vieira would not have to serve in the Army.

08-19-2008, 04:00 PM	#2
crystaldawn Member Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Dec 17, 2002 Location: Illinois Posts: 4,261	I totally agree with you James. The first time I watched this I was struck by the fact that this new boyfriend who you would think would have cared about Alice watches her getting stabbed and then instead of trying to defend her runs away. Interesting in the article about Alice and her daughter having some sort of argument resulting in the daughter breaking a window right before her murder. I'm assuming David was upset by it and came in to confront her. I wouldn't be surprised if he had been planning an attack on her for a while seeing as he would regularly beat her up. Is anyone else infuriated while watching the scene in the NBC version of this case (not sure if this scene made it to the Lifetime airing or not) where Alice is telling her parents how mean David is and how he beats her up and they basically tell her to just stay married because it would look bad if they got divorced. Real nice.

10-08-2011, 09:03 PM	#4
WishfulDreamer Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Jun 01, 2009 Location: L.A. Posts: 3,868	I am so glad I wasn't the only one who thought this! I understand he was scared and I've never been in such a situation, but if someone I cared about was being attacked I would pick something up and try to fight him off, or do SOMETHING rather than run away. I know he later used a knife, but he was hitting her with something first. I would have grabbed something heavy and tried to hit him in the head, perhaps. Running only caused him to be able to beat her and then use a knife. It's just beyond frustrating! Even hiding for a second to call the police then trying to overpower him would have been better. I only would have condoned his behavior if Viera had used a gun, then it would have been too dangerous to even try approaching him.

10-09-2011, 02:25 PM	#5
zack007attack Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Jan 30, 2009 Posts: 402	Two words (for those who think her boyfriend could have successfuly helped her against a jealous lunatic with a knife, no offense): Ronald Goldman

10-09-2011, 10:03 PM	#8
everprincess Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Sep 05, 2011 Location: North Carolina Posts: 163	Frankly if I'd been the boyfriend and knew the history I would have had a baseball bat in my hand ready for him to strike. But that's just IMO.

10-10-2011, 02:03 AM	#9
wiseguy182 Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Apr 11, 2006 Location: Wendy's salad bar Posts: 7,030	I don't know, I think we are being just a tiny bit harsh on the boyfriend. He had a split second to make a decision in a life or death circumstance. He decided he wanted to live. We'll never know what happened, but he could have suffered a similar fate as Alice did. He was her boyfriend, but I think they had just gotten together, so it wasn't like they were married or even engaged. He probably didn't know alot about her.

10-10-2011, 04:38 AM	#11
mystery_daisy True Crime Buff Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Jun 14, 2006 Location: Galveston Bay Posts: 3,118	To me David was the bigger coward. To marry Alice to avoid the army and then to kill her like that, the mother of his 3 children. Then to run away and hide from police, leaving his children orphaned. On the actions of the boyfriend, every situation is different. He did get away with his life, at least. You can't say what you would have done in that situation. Sometimes the best thing you can do is hide or play dead.