http://www.timesofisrael.com/mounting-evidence-boston-bombers-were-behind-gruesome-2011-murders/‘Mounting evidence’ Boston bombers were behind gruesome 2011 murders
Forensic evidence at crime scene said to link both Tsarnaev brothers to killings of three young men, two of whom were Jewish
NEW YORK – Investigators in Massachusetts reportedly have “mounting evidence” that three Boston-area men murdered in 2011 — two of whom were Jewish — were killed by the Tsarnaev brothers, the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings.
Forensic evidence at the crime scene “provided a match to the two Tsarnaev brothers,” ABC News reported at the weekend, and records of cell phones used by the Tsarnaevs on the day of the killings appear “to put them in the area of the murders.” Authorities were waiting to complete “more definitive DNA testing,” before considering bringing an indictment against the surviving Tsarnaev brother, Dzokhar, the report said.
The families of the three victims have declined to speak to the press even as suspicion has taken root that the trio were brutally murdered by the Tsarnaevs.
The three men were Erik Weissman, 31, Raphael Teken, 37, and Brendan Mess, 25.
Mess was a close friend of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, according to the accounts of friends, and was seen with him often in the weeks prior to the murder. The two were roommates at one time, relatives told officials.
The murder was one of the most gruesome killings the Boston area had known in years.
The men had knife wounds on their bodies, had been dragged one by one into separate rooms and were “slaughtered,” according to local media description. They were found the following morning by Mess’s girlfriend, who reportedly ran screaming from the apartment. Their throats had been slit, their bodies sprinkled with marijuana, and $5,000 in cash lay untouched in the apartment.
The case had stymied police. “It’s been an open case since 2011 and that hasn’t changed,” Stephanie Guyotte of the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office told The Times of Israel last week.
Police also noted there were no signs of a break-in, suggesting that the victims knew their assailant and raising speculation in the press that the assault may have started with a drug deal gone awry. “We have indicated in the past that we do believe it was drug-related,” Guyotte noted.
But there were strange discrepancies as well. Would a drug dealer have left behind so much cash and marijuana?
And then there was the date. The bodies were found on the afternoon of September 12, 2011, and the murders were initially reported as having taken place on that date. But police have come to believe
the murder took place the previous night, some time after 8 p.m. on September 11, 2011, exactly 10 years after the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.The murder date also corresponds to the period during which the FBI believes Tamerlan was becoming increasingly radicalized. Tamerlan became increasingly pious in his habits, including growing a beard and rejecting alcohol. In 2011, Russian authorities intercepted telephone and SMS conversations between Tamerlan and his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, who lives in Russia, that discussed jihad and Tamerlan’s willingness to die for Islam. Zubeidat had suggested Tamerlan go to fight against Israel in “Palestine,” but Tamerlan objected that he did not know Arabic.
That comment now weighs heavily in the speculation. Weissman and Teken were Jewish. Local Boston news site WCVB.com said Weissman, who has relatives in Israel, was “active in his synagogue.” After his death, trees were planted in his honor in the Carmel Mountains outside Haifa, according to a message on a Facebook page devoted to his memory.
Teken, 37, was a Brandeis graduate who was buried in Israel.
In late April, the Boston Globe reported that the victims’ families had approached law enforcement with the surprising revelation that may offer a long-sought explanation for the 2011 murder: that Tsarnaev and Mess had been close friends.
Law enforcement officials won’t offer details on the ongoing investigation, but say they are pursuing the new leads. “It’s an active and open homicide investigation so I can’t discuss any details,” said Guyotte, and added, “If there is information that may come to light we will absolutely pursue it.”
Raphael Teken (photo credit: Facebook)
According to the Globe, relatives suspect that Tamerlan may have been helped in the murder by Dzhokhar, “because of the difficulty that one killer would face subduing the three victims, at least two of whom were in good physical condition.”
Teken was a personal trainer and Mess a mixed martial artist. Even if they were high at the time of the killing, “the person or persons who committed the slayings had to be strong and highly skilled,” the Globe noted in explaining the relatives’ rationale.
Family members have declined to speak to the US media. Weissman’s family in Israel has also declined to speak to the press.
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