In a ruling from the bench finding that the state offered sufficient evidence that Richard Baribault, 40, of 20 Messer St., Warwick murdered 70-year-old Fernando Silva – known to many as “Captain Fredy” – on Aug. 1 while on his boat in Warwick Cove, Superior Court Associate Justice Joseph Montalbano yesterday ordered Baribault held without bail.

Baribault is a co-defendant with Troy Gunderway, 44, of 82 Church Ave., who waived his right to a bail hearing. The state contends the men killed Silva as they sought to rob him of about $400 in Keno winnings.

Montalbano’s ruling comes after four days of hearings during which Warwick Harbormaster Jeff Baris testified he found Silva’s boat near the head of Warwick Cove on Aug. 4 and, as it was not securely anchored, moved it to a mooring off Randall Avenue on Warwick Neck. At that time, Baris checked the boat but believed no one was aboard. On Aug. 15, because of a foul odor, Baris checked the boat again and found Silva’s body under a mattress stuffed in the forward companionway of the 26-foot sailboat.

Stephen Emerson, a commercial fisherman, testified Silva had tied up his boat to the dock where he keeps his boat on July 31. He also placed Baribault and Gunderway on the dock between 4:30 and 5 a.m. the following morning and on numerous occasions shortly after. Gunderway told him they were going to move the boat for Captain Fredy, but they couldn’t get the engine to start.

The investigation, led by Detective Sgt. Mark Canning, retraced the steps of Silva on July 31 and put police in contact with Donald “Ducky” Waterman, who was a friend of Silva’s and knew of his intent to buy a motor. Waterman also knew Gunderway, who was renting a room at his house on Church Avenue.

Canning and Detective Sgt. Scott Robillard also identified the truck Emerson had seen at the dock, tracing it to Baribault. It had stolen plates. They stopped Baribault, and in their pat-down found a knife with blood on it. The blood was later identified as that of Silva and Baribault. Additional evidence included Google archive searches that put Baribault’s phone at the boat and on Warwick Neck Avenue, where he is believed to have picked up Gunderway after Gunderway rowed ashore.

Montalbano found that there was legally sufficient evidence for a verdict of guilty, and that not only based on the severity of the crime but also Baribault’s prior arrests on domestic felony assault, he should be held without bail.

Special Attorney General Timothy Healy told members of Silva’s family that the evidence would now be presented to a grand jury, and if there was to be a trial, he didn’t expect it would be for a year to 18 months.

“Oh, thank God,” Silva’s sister, Maria A. Costa, said when the judge’s ruling was issued. Two years younger than Captain Fredy, she said she was close to her brother and would see him two or three times a week when he kept his boat in Bristol more than a year ago. She said she lost contact with him when he sailed to Warwick. Captain Fredy lived on his boat while moored off Conimicut this summer. He moved it to Warwick Cove in late July.

Canning, who thinks the case may never go to trial, said in the court corridors after the ruling, “one small part of this process has served justice for the family.”