Update at 12:29 p.m.: The Morning News Tanya Eiserer reports that Silva has confessed to the murder, telling police that, "I killed him because he put a flower on my door and tonight he had on a red hat so I decided I was going to kill him."
Original post: As a younger man, Joe Silva was in and out of jail. During the 70s and 80s, he was convicted of a string of crimes in Dallas County: several burglary counts; a couple of theft charges; a pair of aggravated assaults, one of which resulted in serious bodily injury. But the 68-year-old seems to have put his life of crime behind him by the time he moved into the Juliette Fowler Homes off Abrams Road in East Dallas.
That changed last night, when police say Silva stabbed a fellow resident, 73-year-old Harrell Griesenbeck, in the lobby of the assisted living center. Silva then called 911 and told the dispatcher where he and Griesenbeck could be found. Greissenbeck was then taken to Baylor, where he was pronounced dead.
Juliette Fowler Homes CEO Sabrina Porter told the Morning News that police are investigating the stabbing.
"I will tell you these were two independent-living residents in independent apartments," Porter said. "They take care of themselves, and they just got into a scuffle. We don't know more than that. There were no witnesses."
Silva was taken to the Dallas County Jail, where he's being held on a $500,000 bond.
