'How It Really Happened with Hill Harper’ Season 5: Did Boston bombers commit the 2011 Waltham triple murders?
On April 15, 2013, people from all across the world tuned in to see the annual Boston Marathon but were horrified when they witnessed a terrorist attack on innocent participants and spectators. After the shocking Boston Marathon bombings rocked the city, the biggest question reverberating through minds at that time was: Who could be behind it? With the help of public and state of the art technology, authorities pinned down two suspects — dubbed “White Hat” and “Black Hat” and released images and videos of the individuals out in public.
Through the next 48 hours, the bombers went on a terrifying crime spree across Boston. A police officer murdered, a civilian kidnapped, and an entire city on lockdown — all leading to an unbelievable showdown with local and federal authorities in Watertown, Massachusetts. The two were eventually identified as Chechen Kyrgyzstani-American brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
Why did the young men decide to blow off those explosives? Could new information link one of them to a triple homicide just two years before? ‘How It Really Happened with Hill Harper’ attempts to answer those questions in two back-to-back episodes.
Back in 2011, a triple homicide was reported in Waltham, Massachusetts on September 11, with the victims discovered dead with their throats slit from ear to ear with great force. As per reports, the killers had covered their bodies with thousands of dollars and marijuana which totaled up to $5,000. The three bodies — discovered in three different rooms — were identified as Brendan Mess, 25, Erik Weissman, 31, and Raphael Teken, 37, at 12 Harding Avenue in Waltham, Massachusetts. While Mess was a well-known mixed martial arts fighter, Teken was a personal trainer and Weissman was a bodybuilder.
The mystery remained unsolved for a long time and district courts ruled that the victims and killers had known each other. After the Tsarnaev brothers came into the public eye, a Boston Globe profile first made the possible connection to the triple murder after which The Middlesex County District Attorney's Office started investigating on those grounds. As per the report, Tamerlan had once introduced Mess to John Allan, owner of Wai Kru Mixed Martial Arts in Allston, calling him his “best friend.’’ Moreover, the relative of one of the victims told Boston Herald, “The three of them were definitely killed on Sept 11,’’ adding, “They all stopped using their cellphones at about eight o’clock that night.’’
Meanwhile, BuzzFeed spoke to a man named Ray who hinted that they could have had a hand in the crime. “Tam wasn’t there at the memorial service, he wasn’t at the funeral, he wasn’t around at all,” Ray told BuzzFeed. “And he was really close with Brendan. That’s why it’s so weird when he said, ‘I don’t have any American friends.’” Stephanie Guyotte, a spokesman for the Middlesex district attorney’s office, said, “We’re eager to pursue any new leads of information. It has been reported he knew one of the deceased victims. It remains an open and active investigation.’’
Soon after, in May 2013, the FBI interviewed a Chechen immigrant named Ibragim Todashev for approximately eight hours at his apartment in Orlando, Florida. Quizzing him about any possible connection to the crimes on the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, they asked him about the two brothers. During the investigation, he confessed that he was involved along with Tamerlan and was just beginning to write a formal statement when a violent streak came over him and he reportedly attacked one of the officers. In an act of defense, the officers immediately fired several bullet shots and he was killed right there.
The bizarre incident haunts people till date and it appears that the Boston bombings wasn't the first time the Tsarnaev brothers killed someone, was it?
Catch the devastating account of the incident through the voices of investigators, reporters, and survivors in double-episodes — 'Reconstructing the Crime Scene' and 'The Manhunt' from 9 pm to 11 pm ET on HLN.