| “ | What's done is done. I just wanna die, okay? Just let me die. | ” |
— Silvio in denial of his innocence
| ||
Silvio Herrera is a gangster wrongfully convicted of the murder of Maria Jones, which he was framed for by serial killer Cyrus Lebrun. He appeared in Season One of Criminal Minds: Evolution.
History[]
Silvio was a member of the Mala Noche street gang. He and another gang member, Juan Gutierrez, kept secret they were gay and a couple. The only one who figured it out was Lebrun, a local arms trafficker who extorted them for payoffs in exchange for his silence. They were affiliated with a woman named Maria Jones, who Lebrun targeted to kill out of wanting his chance to rape her in captivity. Lebrun kidnapped and brutalized Maria accordingly, and she would've escaped once his nephew Lee Duval set her free, if Lebrun didn't stab her to death once he found out. After he covered up his guilt in Maria's murder with Lee, wanting a fall guy, he forced Silvio to take the blame. This was done by threatening Silvio with pictures of Juan from stalking Juan, with prayers written on the backs of the photos to reiterate his blackmail over being prepared to out both and kill Juan. Silvio had the ironclad alibi of attending a drag ball in Kitts Creek with Juan, which Juan kept pictures of, but Silvio made Juan keep silent for their safety and falsely confessed the next day. Rebecca Wilson prosecuted the case, her first one she tried and the major break in her career. Silvio was convicted and sentenced to death, his sentence languishing while he spent years on death row. when his execution date drew close, it was delayed due to North Carolina's moratorium during its COVID pandemic lockdown. All those years, Silvio grew depressed and hopeless, wanting to die and burying his and Juan's secret the longer he was in jail and Lebrun was sending him threats in photos of Juan.
The BAU found photos of Maria from when Lebrun stalked her in a storm shelter Lee, then going by Elias Voit and a serial killer of his own, blew up when agents were planning to raid it. As the agents needed to close the case so they could keep the investigation into Voit open, they brought Silvio to Quantico for questioning. He reiterated his false confession, had outbursts, and finally muttered all he wanted was to die. When Juan was identified, the team realized Silvio was covering for him to protect their relationship and Juan's life. Tara Lewis, Wilson's girlfriend whose relationship was threatened by the investigation, spoke with Silvio and confided in him how she felt insecure about her orientation as well, seeing through when Silvio tried to hide his orientation by sexually harassing her. Accepting he couldn't lie to her, he simply said he was done talking and wanted to return to face his sentence, not believing the FBI should care about him. Juan was tracked finally under his new name, Samuel Ortiz, and he agreed to give the pictures of that night when they were at the drag ball to the prosecution in NC to save Silvio's life. After Wilson saw the photos, she placed the call to the office personally. Silvio's death sentence was overturned, and after official exculpation in court, he was finally freed.