Silvano Ward Brown

In 1959, at the age of 18, Brown was looking for a house to break into in San Francisco, when he came upon the house of 18-year-old Caballero.[2] After observing the woman undressing herself, he surprised Paula, causing to her to scream "Oh my God, my mother, my God!".[4] Using a knife he carried for cutting fabrics from doors and windows while breaking into houses, Brown fatally stabbed her chest on the left side. Caballero managed to walk a few steps, before collapsing dead on the ground. The panicked Silvano ran away without looking back, but was captured by authorities, and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment on Coiba's island prison.[2]

While in there, he was examined by José Kaled, a medical and forensic psychiatrist. Kaled predicted that when released, it was very likely that Brown would kill again.[3] On December 4, 1969, Silvano was released from prison and remained under the radar for a few years before striking again.[2]

On June 7, 1973, Brown left his job on the "Spanish Man" boat, and decided to go with a friend to the town of Colón. After returning to Panamá around 1:30 AM, he left his friend and began driving along Central Avenue, passing by the National Bank. At 2:00 AM, he noticed a woman walking in the direction of the Economic Development Institute (now the Agricultural Development Bank), but decided to simply move along. He continued down the intersection, turned to the old Canal Zone (the current location of the Judicial Police) and left through a street to Gorgas Hospital, opposite the "Ancón Inn" bar and old "Great Morrison" warehouse. However, Brown then changed his mind, and decided to go after the woman from before.[2]

He found the woman, 22-year-old prostitute Dalila Gaitán Troya (AKA Delilah Gaytán Troya), on the Los Mártires Avenue, and began caressing her. Brown led her to an apartment in the Transistmica and gave her $15 in advance for her services, but, because of his impotence, he had erection problems. Dalila wanted to finish quickly and mocked Brown, angering him in the process. He asked her to give the money back, as he felt he shouldn't pay just to see her in her underwear, but she refused and slapped him.[2] Immediately after, Silvano punched her in the jaw, and Dalila slumped on the bed. She got up, but was hit again and had her client wrap his hands around her neck, strangling her. When she was "more or less still", Brown took her sweater and wrapped it tightly around her neck. He then proceeded to put on his pants, wash the bloodied sheets and pillows in the sink, and then pick up the body. He put Dalila's corpse in the backseat of his car, and drove to the street next to the Paris Garden, throwing away the woman's wallet and shoes onto a nearby bridge. While on the road leading to a Bahá'í temple in the San Miguelito District,[3] Brown stopped the car, undressed Dalila's corpse and pushed it onto the road, where it was later found by a couple who were passing by.[2]

Only eight days after the last encounter, Brown met up with another prostitute, 23-year-old Colombian Rose María Gómez Orlas (AKA Rosa María Gómez). He took her to the same place as Dalila, but yet again had difficulties with his impotence. Despite this, Rose agreed to go for a walk with him and return later. However, he had problems the second time as well, which ended in the woman teasing him. The now-angered Brown began hitting her in the face, before eventually strangling her with his bare hands. To make sure she was dead, he tied the sash she was wearing around her neck.[2]

Like the previous murder, Brown undressed the deceased prostitute in order to prevent her identification, and abandoned her body in the forest, near a road connecting Chilibre and the Transistmica from the old Canal Zone. Her body was found on June 19, 1973.[2]