The unsolved 2011 triple murder that may link to the Boston Marathon bombing
In short: In September 2011, three men were found murdered in a Waltham apartment, their throats slit with extreme force. While the case initially went cold, the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing brought new scrutiny to the scene, suggesting a chilling connection between the victims and the Tsarnaev brothers.
On September 12, 2011, the bodies of Brendan Mess, Erik Weissman, and Raphael Teken were discovered in Mess's Waltham, Massachusetts, apartment. All three men, who were physically robust and involved in martial arts or bodybuilding, had been killed in separate rooms. Autopsies revealed their throats were slit with such intensity they were nearly decapitated. Despite $5,000 in cash being left at the scene, investigators found seven pounds of marijuana covering the bodies, which they interpreted as a symbolic gesture rather than a sign of a standard robbery.
The investigation took a dramatic turn in April 2013 following the Boston Marathon bombing. Authorities re-examined the case, identifying Tamerlan Tsarnaev—who had once called Mess his best friend—as a potential suspect. Forensic evidence and cell phone records reportedly placed both Tamerlan and his brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, in the area at the time of the killings. Investigators also explored whether the murders were intentionally timed to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The victims were known to have allowed their killers into the apartment, as there were no signs of forced entry.
The case deepened in May 2013 when Ibragim Todashev, an acquaintance of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was shot and killed by law enforcement in Orlando, Florida, during an interrogation. According to the FBI, Todashev implicated both himself and Tamerlan in the Waltham murders just before his death, claiming the motive was a drug robbery intended to silence witnesses. While the Tsarnaev brothers' connection to the crime remains a subject of intense investigation and public interest, the full details of that night in Waltham continue to be scrutinized by authorities and journalists alike.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: 2011 Waltham triple murder
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