Editor’s Note: Last month the Valley Indy interviewed Jacqueline Diaz, the mother of Cordaryl Silva, who was accused last June of killing Javon Zimmerman outside RJ’s Cafe in Derby. At the beginning of the interview, Diaz handed the Valley Indy a seven-page, handwritten letter to the editor. The letter is printed below. Click here to read a story about the interview.
When the murder of Javon Zimmerman occurred at RJ’s Cafe the night of May 12, Derby police questioned people about the shooting and no one saw nothing.
The Derby police also questioned the bartender along with two workers. They heard gunshots and then hit the floor.
Cordaryl’s father knew both employees and asked them what happened. They both said they didn’t see nothing and when they heard gunshots they hit the floor. One of the employees said a Derby detective came to their house and he told them he didn’t see nothing and that’s that.
Derby police went back to the second employee’s house and harassed him and two days later his story changed: now he saw everything.
I believe a deal was made and he’d sign a statement against my son. This employee is one of the biggest pill and cocaine dealers in the local bars in the Valley, and he also has an extensive drug history.
As said in the newspaper, a worker at the bar also told police he saw Silva shoot Zimmerman two days later. The employee also said a man he knew as Tech-One had arrived at the bar with Zimmerman but fled from the scene before the shooting. The warrant says police showed the employee a photo array and he picked out Tech-One as Tyquan Bailey, an associate of Zimmerman and a suspect in a Valley drug gang. If Tyquan Bailey left the scene, why is he the second witness that signed a statement on my son saying he saw Cordaryl shoot Javon?
Tyquan Bailey was one of the individuals that was picked up in a June 1 raid. He was found with drugs and had violated his parole. Now he decides to sign a statement. He got out in August after serving parole time then got busted again with drugs. He also has an extensive criminal history.
As far as the third witness that signed a statement against my son, why didn’t you stay and tell the police what happened? Why did you leave Javon’s lifeless body on the concrete and flee? It’s funny how no one knew anything until after the June 1 raid and now everybody wants to use my son as a get out of jail free card.
The GPS reports and surveillance conducted by Ansonia police indicated the drug crew was extremely busy. The GPS reports have further confirmed that this organization is an “around the clock narcotics operation,” the warrant read. In fact, a car allegedly used by Javon Zimmerman was being monitored by a GPS tracker when he was shot and killed in a parking lot at RJ’s Cafe.
The car, a Honda Accord, arrived in the parking lot at 1:51 a.m. The warrant does not state the parking lot visit was made just minutes before the bar closed. The warrant states the Honda left the scene at 2:05 a.m. and drove a short distance to Cottage Street where it remained for six minutes — this is also the street of one of the witnesses that wrote a statement lives on.
Next, the vehicle traveled to Webb Terrace in Ansonia where it remained for 15 minutes. A second vehicle then joined the Honda, also with GPS attached. Both vehicles travel to High Street and stayed about an hour. The Honda then traveled to Waterbury where Waterbury police intercepted it at a diner about two hours after Zimmerman was shot.
My question is: why would these individuals be at the diner eating and conversing when they all should have been at the hospital consoling the family? How can they eat at a time like this?
I believe all the real evidence lies with these individuals and the Honda is a big part of this investigation. It’s like the car vanished. It never should have been allowed to leave the crime scene, especially if a GPS tracking device was on it. And it was allowed to go to three different residences before being intercepted. That gives you enough time to get rid of everything.
My son, Cordaryl Silva, was picked up and questioned for the murder of Javon Zimmerman. He was fingerprinted. There was no gunpowder residue on his hands or his clothing. The Ansonia police let him go, then picked him up for violating probation May 17. After the raid on June 1 they hit him with the murder charge. The paper said “Perhaps the biggest break in the case came June 1, when several people were arrested as part of an investigation by the Ansonia Police Department into drug dealing in the area.”
The warrant says investigators learned from numerous people that two of the men arrested June 1 were with Zimmerman at the time of the shooting. During interviews on June 1 and 2 at the Derby Police Department, the warrant says one of the men fingered Silva as Zimmerman’s shooter and told police he is “the only person in the world who saw what happened.” If he was the only person in the world that saw what happened, how did three people sign statements saying they were there and saw what happened when the only people that were there were the individuals in the car and my son?
I know and God knows those boys were not coming to the bar for a drink or girls at 1:51 a.m. The individuals received a phone call from the uncle of one of the witnesses saying Cordaryl was at the bar. They arrived with a shooter and their plan was to kill my son. Shots were fired. My son ran because he was running for his life.
Police have footage on tape of my son running. He was running for safety. The Valley has four murders that have not yet been solved and Derby police want to put this murder on my son just so it could look like they are doing their job. Instead of making deals with these so-called witnesses they should have focused more on the crime scene.
Then, to top it all off, my son received a special public defender June 26, 2012. When our family went to court he didn’t even acknowledge us, he went straight to the prosecutor. I approached him and asked to set up an appointment to talk about my son and he had the nerve to tell me to write him. My son and I still attempt to call him and all we get is voicemail and haven’t yet gotten a response to any of the messages. He hasn’t sat down and explained any of the procedures.
This special public defender waived my son’s probable cause hearing. Everyone doesn’t know the law. That’s where the attorney comes in to explain and give you advice to help you, not harm you. In the courtroom he told my son to say “yes.” He didn’t know better. He listened to his attorney, thinking he was helping him. I feel he is working with the prosecutor. He has no interest in my son.
Then he told my son they will give him 30 years if he can solve the murders in the Valley. That’s not my son’s job, that’s Ansonia and Derby police departments’ job. My son was in jail when those murders occurred.
I feel that as a special public defender he started this case in an ineffective manner. He rushed in on the first day, waiving Cordaryl’s rights to a probable hearing without fully reviewing the case or the affidavit arrest warrant. He then proceeded to advise his client inappropriately. He should have started the case by requesting a continuance to allow himself the opportunity and necessary time to review the case before waiving a hearing. Instead it seems like everybody wants to make deals instead of finding out the real truth.
I am in the process of a grievance against this special public defender. In todays world it’s all about who you know or what you know and money. If you don’t have a lawyer the system can take a giant shit on you, especially when you don’t have the means to fight back, and that’s how the real world works today.
This attorney has no interest in my son.
