‘The Murders Before the Marathon’: How Are the 2011 Waltham Murders Connected to the Boston Marathon Bombing?

What do the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing and a 2011 triple murder in Waltham, Massachusetts, have in common? That is exactly what The Murders Before the Marathon, a new investigative documentary, has set out to figure out. The three-part documentary delves into the connection between Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Brendan Mess, a murder victim. The documentary posits a simple theory; if Tsarnaev was the perpetrator of the triple murder, Waltham police could have prevented the Boston Marathon Bombing by being more proactive in their investigation. 

Who was killed in the 2011 Waltham triple murder? 

Three men were found murdered inside a Waltham, Massachusetts, apartment on September 12, 2011. All three men, Brendan Mess, 25, Eric Weissman, 31, and Raphael Teken, 37, had been beaten, and their throats had been slit. The deaths likely happened on September 11, 2011, sometime after 9 pm. The window of time when things went awry is startlingly small. The men ordered a food delivery just before 9 pm on September 11. When a delivery driver arrived just 20 minutes later, there was no answer at the door, and no one answered the phone. The delivery driver never made contact with the trio.

The bodies of the men were discovered on September 12 when Mess’ landlord unlocked the door for Mess’ ex-girlfriend. The woman had shown up at the unit after being unable to reach Mess. Reportedly, they had broken up just days before, and she was hoping to patch things up. 

Police were quick to label the triple murder drug-related because the bodies were found surrounded by marijuana and money. Weissman, Teken, and Mess were all marijuana enthusiasts. All three men were also heavily involved in physical fitness. That is the interest that Tsarnaev had in common with the men. Mess was a mixed martial artist, while Tsarnaev was a talented boxer. 

How was Tamerlan Tsarnaev connected to the murder victims? 

At first glance, it doesn’t seem like Tsarnaev had a deep connection to the Waltham murders, but if you look deep enough, there are threads that bind him tightly to one of the victims. He was also in the peripheral social circle of the other two. His behavior following the deaths of Mess, Weissman, and Teken certainly seems questionable. 

According to the investigative journalist Susan Zalkind, who was the driving force behind the documentary, Tsarnaev once considered Mess his “best friend.” The pals trained together at a local boxing gym, and Mess often brought Tsarnaev to social events. When Mess, Weissman, and Teken were murdered, Tsarnaev largely dropped out of the social circle he was once a tertiary member of; he didn’t attend Mess’ funeral and stopped appearing at the gym. According to The Murders Before the Marathon, their friendship had been strong. Tsarnaev and Mess spent time together in the weeks before Mess’ untimely death. They even lived together at one point. 

Tsarnaev was unlikely to pull off the triple murder alone. Subduing three fit men would have been a stretch even for a skilled boxer. Some family and friends assume Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was involved in the deaths, too. There is a third possible perpetrator, though. Ibragim Todashev, an associate of Tsarnaev, was questioned about the Waltham murders but was killed during a scuffle with a federal agent. Tamerlan Tsarnaev died in a shootout with police after the bombing. The younger Tsarnaev has never spoken about the murders. At least that information hasn’t been released to the public. Cell phone activity, however, allegedly placed the brothers in the neighborhood on the evening the men were killed. 

The younger Tsarnaev, the only suspect still alive, is currently sentenced to death for his role in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. He is housed at USP Florence ADMAX, a federal prison in Florence, Colorado. The facility is well-known for housing the most dangerous criminals in the country. Both foreign and domestic terrorists and organized crime figures are currently housed at the facility.  

Could Tsarnaev’s apprehension prevented the Boston Marathon bombings? 

The Murders Before the Marathon and Zalkind ask a really hard question. The investigative series’ goal was to determine if a more thorough investigation by police into the killings in 2011 would have led them to the Tsarnaev brothers. If the police had connected the Tsarnaev brothers to the deaths of Weissman, Mess, and Teken, Zalkind ponders, could it have prevented the carnage at the Boston Marathon two years later? 

In the end, it’s impossible to know for certain if a deeper dive into Mess, Weissman, and Teken’s life would have led the police to Tsarnaev and his associates. It’s certainly plausible, though. Based on the information presented by Zalkind, there was plenty of evidence, both circumstantial and more concrete, to link the siblings and their friend to the triple murder. Whether that evidence would have led to a conviction in the triple murder is still up for debate. As it stands, the 2011 Waltham triple murder is still considered unsolved. 

You can watch The Murders Before the Marathon on Hulu. All three parts of the investigative series were released on September 5.