Murderer Is Sentenced in 1981 Slaying of Sherman Oaks Woman

A notorious 19-year-old murder case finally reached an end Thursday with the sentencing of the killer of a Sherman Oaks woman to 7 years in state prison.

Edward Perreira, 46, is already serving a 171-year sentence for another murder he committed in the San Francisco Bay Area. But Thursday’s sentence by Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Michael Hoff--which was the result of a plea bargain--was significant nonetheless because of the uphill battle to bring Perreira to justice for the death of Beth Field Silver.

In 1981, Perreira robbed, raped and shot the 25-year-old newlywed at her Sherman Oaks home. Last month, he pleaded no contest to manslaughter.

“It’s been 19 years,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeffrey Boxer. “There’s finally some closure.”

After the sentencing, Silver’s family said it was a “good day” for them because they never again have to confront Perreira, whom they called an “evil” man.

“We’ve avenged as much as we can through the legal system,” said Donnovan Field, Silver’s stepmother, who attended the hearing in Van Nuys with her husband and Silver’s father, George, of Malibu. “There’s no punishment on Earth equal to that suffering he has inflicted on so many people.”

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office was initially reluctant to file charges against Perreira because of insufficient evidence. Charges had also been erroneously brought against another man who was eventually acquitted by a jury in 1983. But in 1996, renewed interest and new evidence uncovered by LAPD homicide detectives allowed prosecutors to reopen the case.

Perreira was offered the plea deal because the case’s age made it tough to bring it to trial, prosecutors said. Witnesses have died, and evidence has been destroyed.

“It was a difficult case,” Boxer said. “The LAPD really did a good job on this.”

Field said her family was also full of “gratitude toward the detectives.”