An act of kindness on a September evening cost Robert Silk his life, making him the tragic first victim in a horrific crime spree committed by a newly freed killer. Robert, a 42-year-old male computer programmer from Elmont, a suburb on New York's Long Island, was a good Samaritan who stopped to help a stranger and paid the ultimate price. His death was the beginning of a terrifying series of events that exposed deep flaws in the justice system.
On September 6, 1994, Robert was driving
when he saw a man whose car appeared to have broken down in a supermarket parking lot. That man was Reginald McFadden, and the breakdown was a ruse. Investigators believe Robert, simply trying to help, was murdered shortly after he stopped. He was then reported missing, and for months, his fate remained unknown. The investigation into his disappearance took a significant turn when McFadden was arrested a month later, on October 6, 1994, for a separate crime. At the time of his arrest, he was driving Robert Silk's car and had been using his bank cards.
The discovery immediately made McFadden the prime suspect in Robert's disappearance. The grim confirmation of his death would not come for another five months. On March 10, 1995, a boy who was crayfishing in a creek in Nanuet, a hamlet in Rockland County, discovered skeletal remains. They were soon identified as those of Robert Silk, bringing a devastating end to his family's search.
The man responsible for Robert’s death was a predator who should have been behind bars. Reginald McFadden had been released from a Pennsylvania prison just 92 days before he killed Robert. He had been serving a life sentence for the 1969 murder of an elderly woman in Philadelphia. In a decision that would later have catastrophic political and social consequences, his sentence was commuted by Pennsylvania's governor, and he was paroled in July 1994.
Freed at age 41 after spending 24 years in prison, McFadden almost immediately began a new reign of terror. After murdering Robert Silk and stealing his car, he embarked on a violent spree across Rockland and Nassau counties. On September 21, he abducted, beat, and repeatedly raped a 55-year-old woman in South Nyack over a five-hour period, forcing her to withdraw money from ATMs. Days later, on September 27, he murdered 78-year-old Margaret Kierer in her Floral Park home during a robbery.
Following his capture, McFadden faced justice in New York for his brutal crimes. He was first tried and convicted for the rape in Rockland County. He later pleaded guilty to the murder of Margaret Kierer. Finally, he was returned to Rockland County to stand trial for the murder of Robert Silk. On March 20, 1996, a jury found him guilty on all charges. At his sentencing, McFadden was defiant, telling the judge he felt no remorse and blaming society for making him a killer. He was sentenced to another 25 years to life, ensuring he would never be free again.
Years later, during a prison interview with a former FBI profiler, McFadden concocted a self-serving lie, falsely claiming Robert had assaulted him and that he had acted in self-defense. This baseless accusation was unsupported by any evidence from the police investigation. McFadden was ultimately convicted of two counts of second-degree murder, three counts of first-degree rape, and numerous other charges for his 1994 crime spree, receiving a total sentence of 89 years and 10 months to life in New York. He died in prison on March 6, 2023, closing the final chapter on the life of a serial killer whose brief, ill-advised freedom brought immeasurable pain and loss.
