The 91-year-old female white victim, Ida Russell, was discovered dead on June 5 1998 inside her small home at 343 London Street in San Francisco's Excelsior District. A neighbor, concerned by the smell of decomposition, alerted authorities. Examiners noted extensive blunt-force injuries to the female nonagenarian's head and torso, yet—largely because Ms.
Russell had a history of falls and previous hospitalizations—they ruled the death an accidental fall, cremated her remains, and closed the file.
That finding unraveled five years later when San Francisco police interviewed 49-year-old Hispanic male drifter David W. Silva, already serving life without parole for the 1999 rape-murder of 86-year-old Velma Studendorf. Silva confessed to at least four earlier killings of elderly residents, including the severe beating of the 91-year-old female white victim Ida Russell. He told detectives he attacked her after she allegedly made a disparaging remark about his father; he beat the retired Pacific Bell operator, left her gravely injured, locked the house, and fled.
Silva's admissions forced the medical examiner's office to re-classify the female senior's 1998 death as a homicide. Investigators now believe the 91-year-old female white victim was part of a pattern: Silva targeted elderly neighbors he could quickly overpower, striking them with fists or nearby objects before stealing valuables or, in some cases, sexually assaulting them.
Although detectives regard David W. Silva as the prime—and only—suspect in the killing of the 91-year-old female white victim Ida Russell, prosecutors have not filed separate charges for her death. Key evidence was lost to time and cremation, and Silva was already sentenced to life without parole. Nevertheless, police have kept the case open in the hope of eventually securing formal counts that would acknowledge Ms. Russell's slaying in court and provide closure for the community.
