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Evidence Grows Against Boston Bombers in Triple Homicide

Brendan Mess, Rafael Teken and Erik Weissman were murdered in 2011

by
Adam Chandler
May 13, 2013
Tamerlan Tsarnaev.(NBC)
Tamerlan Tsarnaev.(NBC)

It’s been three weeks since it was first reported that Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was also now suspected of being involved in a triple homicide. In the context of the marathon bombing, the details of the unsolved 2011 slaying have the florid hallmarks of a tabloid splash: the three victims–two of whom (Erik Weissman and Raphael Teken) were Jewish–were believed to be have been killed in extraordinarily gruesome fashion on September 11, 2011 in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Over the weekend, new details emerged in a report that links both of the marathon bombing suspects to the murder with the evidence only mounting.

In the wake of the Marathon bombings, Middlesex County began to probe a link between the elder Tsarnaev and Brendan Mess, one of the three men killed in the gruesome slaying on Sept. 11, 2011. Officials said Mess and two men were found in a Waltham residence with their throats slit and their bodies covered with marijuana. Tamerlan and Mess were once roommates and did boxing and martial arts training together.



Now law enforcement officials tell ABC News that some crime scene forensic evidence provided a match to the two Tsarnaev brothers. The officials also said records of cell phones used by the Tsarnaevs appears to put them in the area of the murders on that date. Several officials confirmed the new findings but declined to be identified because they are not authorized to comment on the ongoing investigation.

I imagine we’ll be hearing more about this soon.

Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.