Paul Wayne Matthews was a man who was killed in Whitefish, Montana on October 15, 1995. He was identified two weeks later is believed to be a victim of serial killer Robert Silveria Jr. AKA the Boxcar Killer.
Background[]
Paul Wayne Matthews was born on May 19, 1952, in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Later in life, he became a hobo, riding trains across the United States. His last known address was in Austin, Texas, where he was arrested for a misdemeanor in June 1995.
Through riding trains, Paul eventually reached Whitefish, Montana. The day before his death, he was last seen with another man.
Case[]
Paul's body was found in the brush near the railroad camp in Whitefish by a walker on October 15, 1995. His cause of death was a blow to the head, possibly by a rock, and it was ruled a homicide. He was buried in Demersville Cemetery in Kalispell, which was 14 miles south of Whitefish.
Two weeks later, Paul was identified through FBI fingerprint records. Authorities located his mother, daughter, and stepdaughter and informed them of his death.
After his arrest in March 1996, a transient drug addict and Freight Train Riders of America (FTRA) member named Robert Silveria Jr. confessed to killing Paul. Between 1981 and 1996, Silveria robbed and killed at least 14 male railroad riders across the United States, many of whom were fellow FTRA members, veterans, and drug dealers. In 1998, he pleaded guilty to two murders in Oregon and one murder each in Florida and Kansas and was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Great Falls Tribune (Nov. 1, 1995)
Sources[]
- Paul Matthews at Find a Grave
- Radford University
- Robert Silveria Jr. on Wikipedia