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He's the most terrifying serial killer you've never heard of. Haddon Clark has confessed to several murders, but investigators say he could have over 100 victims. At the center of the mayhem, a cellmate of Haddon's that was able to get key evidence into Haddon's murder spree across America,
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Warning. The following podcast is not suitable for all audiences. We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects. Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children. This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned.
On the third Monday of April every year, the citizens of Boston, Massachusetts all get together to celebrate Patriots Day, which is a day commemorating the start of the American Revolution. And it's a big event in Boston. Every year on that day, the Boston Red Sox play at Fenway Park and the Boston Marathon is held downtown. But Patriots Day of 2013 was anything but celebratory.
That morning, on April 15th, 26,839 runners all made their way to Hopkinton, Massachusetts for the start of the 117th annual Boston Marathon. And as they walk toward the start line, everyone waits in anticipation for the sound of the starter pistol.
We are just seconds now to the start of wave one. If this isn't a beautiful picture on this Patriots day, I don't know what is. All of those people about to test themselves and achieve a hard-fought dream. Have a great race everybody. Over the next six hours, they will run 26.2 miles.
all the way to the finish line in downtown Boston, where they will be greeted by thousands of people on the sidelines cheering them on. Many people make signs and t-shirts, other people hand out water, and thousands of children along the gate reach out their hand in hopes that one of the runners will high-five them. It truly is the happiest day of the year in the city of Boston.
But on this day in 2013, while everyone's eyes are towards the finish line, no one notices the two unassuming men walking through the crowd with backpacks on. Video footage from this day shows them walking through the crowd together before they split up.
The older of the two walks towards the finish line and stops right in front of the marathon sports store. Without anyone noticing, he places the backpack on the ground right at the feet of hundreds of people and then he casually walks away. At the time, dozens of runners are crossing the finish line as people on the sidelines cheer. Little do any of them know that their lives are about to change forever.
Within seconds, a huge explosion sent smoke and debris flying hundreds of feet in the air. The sound of cheering quickly turned into the sounds of gut-wrenching screams. People were bleeding out, their limbs scattered across the pavement.
but the nightmare was far from over. 200 yards away, video footage shows the other young man stop in front of a busy restaurant called The Forum, and he stands directly behind a family with three young children. At first, it looks like he's observing the race, but then you see him take his backpack off and he kind of drops his shoulder, placing something on the ground.
As the first bomb detonates, the restaurant's video footage shows everyone looking in the direction of the blast. And there are looks of terror on everyone's face. What the hell was that? Oh my god! Something blew up! Something blew up! Oh my god, something happened! But as everyone is looking in the direction of the explosion, the young man is seen calmly walking in the other direction.
Then, right when he steps out of frame, roughly 12 seconds after the first explosion, the second bomb can be seen obliterating everything in its path. Over the next few minutes, chaos fills the streets.
First responders and random civilians began running towards the injured. Some people were on fire, others were holding onto their limbs that were barely attached to their bodies. Mothers were running through the streets trying to find their children. Everyone was screaming, and the smell of blood, smoke, and burning flesh filled the air.
Within seconds, this happy and cheerful day turned into the worst terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11. 265 were injured in the bombings, 17 people lost their limbs, and 3 people would lose their lives. And over the next few days, the city of Boston, Massachusetts would go into a frenzy trying to find the men responsible.
This is the story of the Boston Marathon bombings. I'm Courtney Brown. And I'm Colin Brown. And you're listening to Murder in America. Murder in America
At 2:49 p.m. at the 117th Boston Marathon, two bombs exploded, sending shrapnel flying through the air, tearing through the flesh of innocent bystanders. Within seconds, hundreds of people were injured. First responders and random civilians immediately hopped into action.
running towards the explosion, trying to help as many people as they could. The marathon sports store, which was directly behind the first bomb, had all of its windows blown out. The people inside of the store quickly grabbed shirts off the racks and began using them as tourniquets for the people who lost limbs. A man named Steve Wolfenden was standing on the sidelines with his three-year-old son Leo when the first bomb went off. He was there to cheer on his wife Amber, who was running for her first time in the Boston Marathon.
Steve had found a good spot in the crowd directly in front of the Marathon Sports Store. He and his son kept an eye on the runners hoping to spot Amber, but the next thing he knew, he was on the ground. His son's stroller was still next to him, and he could hear Leo screaming. When he looked up, he saw blood pouring out of his son's head.
Steve could smell burning flesh mixed with sulfur from the bomb, and as the smoke cleared, he began to see all of the carnage around him. Human body parts littered the streets, and he knew he needed to get out of there. He tried to stand up to grab his son, but he couldn't, and that's when he realized that the severed leg a few feet away from him was his. It was at this moment when a random stranger ran up to help.
Steve begged the man to take his son and run to safety And as the stranger unstrapped Leo from his stroller Another man ran up And repeatedly told Steve You're going to fucking make it And luckily He and his son Leo would make it But that wasn't the case for everyone
29-year-old Crystal Marie Campbell was downtown with her best friend, Karen McWatters. They had just come from the Boston Red Sox game and stopped to take a few photos in the public garden before making their way to Boylston Street. The two were standing on the sidelines near the finish line when all of a sudden a ball of smoke and fire knocked them to the ground. Karen said she didn't even realize what happened.
She just remembered the screaming and the smoke and that the pavement was burning hot on her skin. When she looked down, she saw that her foot was turned in the opposite direction. When Karen looked over at Crystal, who was on the ground moaning in pain, she saw that her leg was missing and that she was covered in burns. Crystal's hair was singed off and there were bruises and cuts covering her face.
There were also holes from metal BBs embedded all throughout her body. She was barely breathing, so Karen grabbed her hand and placed her head against Crystal's. Her last words were "my legs hurt." Then Karen felt her hand go limp. Crystal Campbell would end up losing her life that day and according to the medical examiner Dr. Jennifer Hammers, her death was caused by slowly bleeding to death.
According to Michelle McPhee's book Mayhem, Austin police officer Tommy Barrett said, "...there were so many people that were hurt seriously that it was hard to choose who to begin helping first. Everybody was hurt really bad, but I was trying to pick who I could help first."
One man in the middle of the sidewalk was on fire, so Officer Barrett ran up and put out the flames with his bare hands. Then he quickly ran to the next person. People were still screaming and running in all directions. Large groups were lifting heavy barricades off of people who were trapped underneath them. Random civilians were grabbing people and dragging them to safety. Officer Barrett recalled, "It was brutal. I stepped on somebody's leg. People were missing legs and, you know, the legs were ripped off. It wasn't anything clean or neat."
There was blood and human tissue everywhere. Some even said that the limbs on the ground looked like they had been through a meat grinder.
A 23-year-old graduate student from China named Lingzi Liu was at the marathon that day with her friend, Deng Ling, another student from China who she met in one of her math classes at Boston University. It was actually her friend's idea to go to the marathon that day. Apparently, Lingzi wanted to stay home and study,
but she ultimately decided to go. When the first bomb went off, the two looked at each other and began discussing what they should do next. But before they could react, the second bomb detonated. Dan Ling said that the next thing she knew, she and Lingzi's limbs were intertwined. And when she looked down, Lingzi's organs were coming out of an opening in her stomach. Lingzi was still alive.
In fact, multiple witnesses actually saw her sitting up, trying to put her intestines back into her body. Eventually, Boston Police Officer Lauren Woods would run up to help her. She would later say, "Her whole body was shaking, quivering. She had vomit in her hair. Her eyes were rolling in and out." Officer Woods tried to clear her airway and started chest compressions.
Next to her was her university ID and during CPR, Officer Woods kept yelling out, "Lindsay, stay with us." But she would eventually succumb to her injuries, being the second murder victim of the Boston Marathon.
Nearly everyone that was in the vicinity of the bombs that day had injuries. If you still had your limbs, it was likely that you were injured by the shrapnel. Jillian Rennie was an 18-year-old high school student who had been blown back into the street and one of her legs had been torn apart. When the smoke cleared and she was able to look around, she described the scene as, "...bodies everywhere, blood everywhere."
Other people had their eardrums blown out. Nicole Goss was a tourist from North Carolina, and she said that when the bomb went off, it was like she fell backwards in slow motion. Then everything went dead silent. She could see people screaming with their mouths open in terror, but she couldn't hear a thing. Another family whose lives were completely changed was the Richard family. They were standing up against the gate right in front of the Forum restaurant.
It was a family tradition every year to watch the marathon and cheer on the runners. Shortly before the bomb went off, the children, Martin, Jane, and Henry, were all seen eating ice cream, enjoying their day. There's an eerie photo captured of the family standing along the gate with smiles on their faces. Eight-year-old Martin is proudly wearing his Boston Celtics jersey.
looking out at the runners. But in the background of that photo, directly behind the family, you see one of the bombers. He's walking in the opposite direction and he has a disturbing smirk on his face. In that same photo, at the Richard family's feet, you can see a black backpack. The same backpack that was just seconds away from blowing up.
All of the smiling faces you see in that photo are about to experience the worst day of their life. After the bomb detonated, the Richard family would be blown in all different directions. Their daughter Jane would lose her leg in the blast. The father, Bill, would lose his hearing. He quickly grabbed Jane and their other son Henry and pulled them to safety.
But Denise, the mother, was near her son Martin. She could barely even see the chaos going on around her. A piece of shrapnel was actually lodged into her eye, and she would later lose that eye. But when she got up and looked around, Denise saw that her son was lying on the ground, unresponsive. Martin Richard's 69 pound body was covered in injuries.
A piece of shrapnel had torn through his torso, leaving a 6 by 6 inch opening in his abdomen. The shrapnel tore through his tiny little body, injuring his liver, intestines, kidneys, spleen, ribs, and then ultimately exited through his back. Martin's left arm had been completely torn off, his leg was broken, and he had third degree burns all over his body.
And I just can't even imagine what it would be like celebrating this beautiful day with your family and then within seconds, your entire life changes forever. Denise, I'm sure, was in shock seeing her son in this condition. She ran over and grabbed him, begging Martin to stay with her. But Martin Richard would go on to be the third murder victim in this tragedy.
I saw quite a few casualties coming back. I saw one guy with his legs gone at the knees, some ankles and feet missing. I saw the flash, the fire, the smoke, and I just ran as fast as I could. People decided freaking out and screaming, you know, one after another. I saw just a pile of bodies. The worst thing I think I've ever seen in my life.
It was clear after the second bomb went off that this was a terrorist attack. And while first responders tended to the injured, law enforcement began sending out SWAT teams to canvass the area.
Slowly but surely, the victims were all being brought to the nearby hospitals The murder victims, however, remained at the scene since they were a part of the active crime scene But police would later say that the bodies were never alone Officer Paul Downing stood next to Crystal's body Officers James Scopa and William Zerbin stayed with Martin And bomb technician Frank Deary stood by Lindsey
From here, bomb technicians from the Massachusetts State Police came to the scene and they searched every bag that was left behind to make sure there weren't any secondary devices that could explode at any second. And once it was clear, they would begin their investigation of the scene. As Boylston Street started to empty out, you could really see the devastation all around. There were cups everywhere, people's belongings, shoes, 160 cell phones, people's bags, and all of it had to be investigated.
Aerial views from helicopters show videos from above and all you can see is the blood everywhere. Dark red stained the streets, especially in the locations of the bombs. The medical examiner's office would eventually head to the scene and they were tasked with recovering all of the body parts that littered the pavement. In less than an hour, the city of Boston, Massachusetts was forever changed by the acts of these two terrorists. But at the time, the FBI didn't know that there were two people involved.
In fact, they had no information at all on who was responsible. So their first task was looking through all the surveillance footage from the businesses along Boylston Street. But it wouldn't be an easy task. There were over 10,000 videos to look through, and on those videos were hundreds of thousands of people. But they quickly began the tedious task of trying to locate the bomber in the videos.
Little did they know, the two terrorists responsible for the bombings were 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his brother, 19-year-old Zhohar Tsarnaev. After planting and detonating the bombs downtown, the brothers quickly fled the area and made their way to the local Whole Foods for a little grocery run. At 3:12 PM, 32 minutes after the bombing,
Zohar, the younger of the two, was seen on surveillance footage walking through the front doors and casually making his way through the aisles as if nothing happened. He walks over to the dairy section and looks at all of the different milk options. It's clear he isn't sure which one to buy, but he ultimately grabs one and walks up to the cashier to pay.
In the video, Jahar shows no signs of concern or even paranoia and the employee who rings him up has no idea that he is the man responsible for the bombings. Jahar pays for the milk with cash and then leaves and gets back into the car with his brother Tamerlan. But moments later, video footage shows him exiting the car again. Apparently, Jahar got the wrong kind of milk.
So, Tamerlan sends him back inside. Video shows Jahar walking up to an employee and asking if he can exchange the milk for a different one. Such an innocent request coming from a man that just set off bombs downtown. After Jahar gets the right milk, he goes back to the car where his brother Tamerlan is on the phone with his friend. They're discussing the Boston Marathon bombing.
"Do you think it was an accident?" the friend asks, to which Tamerlan says, "Maybe, maybe not."
Back at the scene, the FBI had gathered all of the CCTV footage along Boylston Street, and they begin looking through all of it. Bomb technicians were able to determine the general location of both bombs so their main focus is looking at the videos around there. But again, it's not an easy task. There were thousands of people on their screens. They do see one man with his clothes all burned and torn up running away from the scene, and initially they thought he could be the bomber, but they quickly found out he was just a random innocent civilian.
There would be two other men, wearing backpacks that were suspects as well, but they too were cleared. Video after video, the FBI was able to narrow down their focus, and they were specifically interested in the surveillance footage from the Forum restaurant. Like we mentioned earlier, this was the restaurant directly behind the second bomb, so they went through it, scanning each and every face on the screen. They knew that of the 147 people they were looking at, the bomber had to be one of them. But after hours, they still weren't able to pinpoint who it was.
In the meantime, while the city of Boston was on edge after the horrific attacks, the Tsarnaev brothers went about their day as if nothing happened. That night, they even went out to dinner at the S&S market with one of their friends. Like everyone else in the city, the friend brought up the bombings and how sad it was that a little boy died. But Tamerlan didn't express any concern.
In fact, he even told his friend, "So what if a kid dies? God will take care of him." Later that night, the younger brother Jahar would post on Twitter, "Ain't no love in the heart of the city. Stay safe people." But Jahar was wrong. There was plenty of love in Boston, Massachusetts that day. Like when Karen McWatters held Crystal Campbell's hand until her dying breath. When strangers tied tourniquets around people's severed limbs.
when Denise Richards held her dying son in her arms, or when civilians ran towards the explosions to help the injured. That is love. More than ever before, the city of Boston had come together in support of one another, but there was a collective sadness throughout the city. And more than anything, everyone wanted the people responsible to be brought to justice.
Here is President Obama in his statement on the Boston Marathon bombing. Earlier today I was briefed by my Homeland Security team on the events in Boston. We're continuing to monitor and respond to the situation as it unfolds. And I've directed the full resources of the federal government to help state and local authorities protect our people, increase security around the United States as necessary, and investigate what happened. The American people will say a prayer for Boston tonight.
And Michelle and I send our deepest thoughts and prayers to the families of the victims in the wake of this senseless loss. We don't yet have all the answers, but we do know that multiple people have been wounded, some gravely, in explosions at the Boston Marathon.
I've updated leaders of Congress in both parties, and we reaffirmed that on days like this there are no Republicans or Democrats. We are Americans, united in concern for our fellow citizens. We still do not know who did this or why. And people shouldn't jump to conclusions before we have all the facts. But make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this. And we will find out who did this. We'll find out why they did this. Any responsible individuals
Any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice. The following day, all of America was still trying to wrap their heads around the devastating loss. And as a country, everyone came together in support. The New York Yankees, who were the Boston Red Sox's number one most hated and rivaled team, even paid tribute to them during their game by having a moment of silence and playing their anthem, Sweet Caroline.
But even with the support of the country, there was still a lot of tension in Boston since the bomber still hadn't been caught. All through the night, law enforcement and FBI agents continued to look through the footage, trying to locate the bombers, but they weren't having any luck. They said they watched the surveillance footage of the Forum restaurant hundreds of times, playing and rewinding and playing and rewinding, trying to find someone that stood out, but still nothing. So they were left with no choice but to ask the public for help.
Here's Police Commissioner Ed Davis. Any information that you have, any videos or photographs could be helpful to this investigation.
Following this, the FBI received thousands of pictures and videos. One being from a person who was taking pictures directly across the street from where the second bomb went off. Even further, they took a picture of the crowd that was standing right in front of the Forum restaurant just moments before the explosion. When investigators got a hold of the photo, it was heartbreaking.
It was the picture we mentioned earlier of the Richard family. There, along the gate, was 8-year-old Martin who could be seen standing up on the railing looking at the runners. And his mom Denise was smiling and clapping her hands. As investigators examined the photo, they could see a dark bag on the ground right next to the family's feet.
And they knew right then that they were looking at the bomb. So from here, they started looking around the picture to see if anyone stood out. And all of their eyes went towards the young man in the white hat standing directly behind the family. It was 19-year-old Jahar Sarnaev.
But investigators didn't know his name at the time, so they referred to him as White Hat. But from here, they take another look at the footage from the restaurant, and sure enough, there he is. He walks into frame about four and a half minutes before the bomb goes off, carrying a backpack and casually playing on his phone.
Then out of nowhere, the investigators see him stop behind the family, drop his right shoulder, and place something on the ground. Not long after, the first bomb goes off. Everyone in the footage is concerned, looking in the direction of the explosion. But not White Hat. He starts to quickly walk away, smirking as he makes a phone call.
And sure enough, right when he steps out of frame, a huge fiery blast fills the air. Investigators knew that White Hat was the bomber, but they had no idea that there was a second bomber. And as they were retracing White Hat's steps, they found a video of him walking with another man carrying a backpack. This guy was wearing a black hat, and from the video, it's clear that these men knew each other. The FBI was confident that these were the bombers.
As they watched the videos of the men, neither of them seemed interested in the marathon at all. They weren't watching the runners. They weren't celebrating. And more convincing than anything, they were not alarmed when the bombs went off. And this footage of the men walking together was actually almost taped over and erased by a restaurant called Whiskey's Steakhouse. But the FBI got there with minutes to spare and was able to recover it.
And luckily they did because without that footage, they wouldn't have known that there were two bombers. Now over 3000 investigators are working the case and everyone is trying to find out the identity of these two men. They even used their multi-billion dollar facial recognition software, but they weren't getting anywhere. And by nightfall on that second day, the terrorists were still walking free. - The following day, Boylston Street was still being thoroughly investigated.
Investigators could be seen in white hazmat suits combing through the carnage and gathering evidence along the 24 block crime scene. And it was very important that they gathered every single piece of evidence because if they found pieces of the bomb, that could possibly lead them to the bombers. They eventually found pieces of the backpack that the bomb was in and the shrapnel that was inside of the bomb.
But the biggest piece of evidence was actually found on the roof of a hotel near the explosion. On that roof was part of a pressure cooker, which was used to make the bomb. And on the bottom of it, it read "Fager, the manufacturer." From here, investigators found that those specific pressure cookers were only sold at one store around Boston, Macy's.
An entire task force was created to find the exact location of where it was purchased, and they did eventually find it. At one of the Macy's in Boston, someone had purchased 5 pressure cookers in the months before the bombing. But even with this information, they still couldn't track the purchases to the bombers. So again, they were back at square one. And I found myself wondering what the bombers were doing during this time.
I pictured them doing something nefarious, maybe staying inside their homes. But that wasn't the case. 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev was back at his Cambridge apartment with his wife, Catherine, and infant daughter. The younger brother, 19-year-old Jahar, was back in school at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. Following the terrorist attack, the two carried on with their lives as usual.
Video footage of Jahar shows him walking around campus. He even went to his school's gym with some of his friends the day after the bombings. And he attended a few college parties that week. By the end of day 3, law enforcement still had no idea who they were. All they had were their photos. And the FBI was really going back and forth as to whether or not they wanted to release these photos to the public.
They wanted the public's help but at the same time, they didn't want the bombers to know that they knew about them. In these types of situations, the element of surprise is the best way to take these kind of people down. Revealing their picture could lead to the bombers fleeing the area or even worse, detonating more bombs.
But while the FBI was deciding what to do with these photos, a news station in Boston, Fox 25, made the decision for them by releasing the photos themselves. Fox 25 has now obtained a photo of one of the suspects and we're going to take a look at it right there. You can see it on your screen. The man with the white baseball cap. From here, the FBI was left with no choice but to go public with the pictures. Good
Good afternoon. My name is Richard Delorier and I am the special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston division. Since Monday's bombings, the FBI and our law enforcement partners have been working around the clock and are fully committed to investigating the matter, this matter, to bring those responsible to justice. Our collective law enforcement team has pursued thousands of leads and tips. As I said two days ago, we are working methodically and with a sense of urgency to identify those responsible for the bombings.
Today we are enlisting the public's help to identify the two suspects. After a very detailed analysis of photo, video and other evidence, we are releasing photos of these two suspects. They are identified as suspect one and suspect two. They appear to be associated. Suspect one is wearing a dark hat. Suspect two is wearing a white hat.
Suspect two set down a backpack at the site of the second explosion just in front of the Forum restaurant. For more than 100 years, the FBI has relied upon the public to be its eyes and ears. With the media's help, in an instant, these images will be delivered directly into the hands of millions around the world. We know the public will play a critical role in identifying and locating these individuals.
Somebody out there knows these individuals as friends, neighbors, coworkers, or family members of the suspects. Though it may be difficult, the nation is counting on those with information to come forward and provide it to us. We consider them to be armed and extremely dangerous. No one should approach them. No one should attempt to apprehend them except law enforcement.
Within minutes, the bombers' faces were plastered across every news station in the country, and eventually it was even international news. The past four days had been a nightmare for the city of Boston. A lot of people stayed home that entire week because everyone was scared that more bombs were being planted throughout the city, and no one was going to get a good night's sleep until these men were caught. But now that they had an image of the bombers, everyone assumed that they would be quickly apprehended. However, that was not the case.
The FBI received many tips from people who thought they knew the men in the images, but none of them panned out. In the meantime, planes were actually temporarily grounded in Boston. The Celtics game was canceled, and the entire city was kind of put on pause. They didn't want to bring large groups of people together and feared that the bombers would strike again. Day four was also the day where President Barack Obama came to Boston and visited many of the injured victims in the hospital. And afterwards, he spoke at the Boston Marathon Memorial.
When doctors and nurses, police and firefighters and EMTs and guardsmen run towards explosions to treat the wounded, that's discipline. When exhausted runners, including our troops and veterans who never expected to see such carnage on the streets back home, become first responders themselves, tending to the injured, that's real power. When Bostonians carry victims in their arms, deliver water and blankets,
line up to give blood, open their homes to total strangers, give them rides back to reunite with their families. That's love. That's the message we send to those who carry this out and anyone who would do harm to our people. Yes, we will find you. And yes, you will face justice.
And that's what the perpetrators of such senseless violence, these small, stunted individuals who would destroy instead of build and think somehow that makes them important. That's what they don't understand. Our faith in each other, our love for each other, our love for country, our common creed that cuts across whatever superficial differences there may be, that is our power. That's our strength.
That's why a bomb can't beat us. That's why we don't hunker down. That's why we don't cower in fear. We carry on. We race. We strive.
We build and we work and we love and we raise our kids to do the same. And we come together to celebrate life and to walk our cities and to cheer for our teams. When the Sox and Celtics and Patriots or Bruins are champions again, to the chagrin of New York and Chicago fans, the crowds will gather and watch a parade go down Boylston Street.
And this time next year, on the third Monday in April, the world will return to this great American city to run harder than ever and to cheer even louder for the 118th Boston Marathon. As night fell upon the city of Boston, everyone was shocked that they still didn't know the identity of the two bombers.
But over in Cambridge, Massachusetts, after the Tsarnaev brothers saw their faces on the news, they started to get a little paranoid. They knew it was only a matter of time until the police found them. So right in the middle of eating dinner, they decided to get up and leave.
grabbing a few extra bombs, a 9mm handgun, ammunition, and a machete. And with that, they get in their car and drive off. Their next plan of action was to drive to New York City and bomb Times Square. But with the FBI on their tails, they needed another vehicle. They also wanted more firearms, just in case there was a shootout with police. So with that,
They started driving towards the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sitting in the MIT parking lot that night was police officer Sean Collier. According to everyone that knew him, Sean was a great guy with a heart of gold. He was also a very hard worker. He always had big dreams of becoming a police officer and shortly before this, he had accepted a job with the Somerville Police Department.
Sean was just three weeks away from starting this new position, and he couldn't be happier about it. All of his colleagues were sad to see him go, but at the same time, they were happy for him. He was finally living out his dream.
That night, on April 18, 2013, Officer Sean Collier was assigned to the east side of campus. His duty was to look out for improperly parked cars and to make sure people weren't violating traffic laws. It had been a pretty uneventful night. Earlier that day, his department had been told to be on the lookout for the two bombing suspects. MIT is just an eight-minute drive from downtown Boston, so they wanted to make sure the officers were familiar with their faces, just in case.
But Sean had no idea that he was about to come face to face with both of the bombers. It was around 10:15 that night when the Tsarnaev brothers pulled up to campus and saw Officer Collier's patrol car parked in the street. Like we mentioned earlier, they wanted to get another gun before they left for New York, so they quietly approached his vehicle.
Tamerlan popped up on the driver's side door and quickly opened it. Before Collier could even react, Tamerlan pointed his gun at the officer and fired multiple shots into his body at close range. Once he was down, Tamerlan reached inside of his vehicle and attempted to grab the gun out of his holster. What he didn't know, however, is that their department had received all new holsters, and without training, he wouldn't have been able to pull the gun out. Tamerlan tried to retrieve the gun for several seconds but couldn't.
So from here, they hopped back into their car and fled the area. After hearing the gunshots, a student in a nearby building called the police. And knowing that Sean Collier was in the area, dispatch radioed in for him to check it out. But he wasn't answering. Concerned, some people at the station even tried to call his cell phone but still, no answer. So another officer named Clarence Henninger decided to go and check it out. As he pulled up to the Koch building, Henninger saw Collier's police car and immediately knew something was wrong.
The car was just idling in the middle of the street, and the driver's side door was open. Henninger quickly rushed over, and inside of the car he saw Collier's body, slumped over to the passenger's side, and there was blood everywhere. He felt for a pulse, and Collier was still alive, but barely clinging to life. It was clear he wasn't going to make it, so Henninger shouted at him, "Who shot you?"
but he didn't answer. Sean's eyes were closed and there was blood trickling out of his mouth. So at 10:31 p.m., he radioed in for backup. Sean was transported to Massachusetts General and pronounced dead shortly after. Medical examiner Renee Robinson would later say that the fatal shot had been the one that pierced right between Collier's eyes.
At the time, no one knew that the officer's death was connected to the bombing suspects.
but it wouldn't be long until they made that connection. After killing Sean Collier, the brothers fled the area and headed towards the nearby neighborhood of Brighton. And as they're driving along, they spot a black Mercedes parked on the side of the road. 26-year-old Dunn-Mang had pulled over to send a text message when all of a sudden he heard a knock on his window. Dunn looked over to see Tamerlan standing there.
and he figured he was going to ask him for directions, so he rolled down his window
But as soon as he did, Tamerlan reached into his vehicle and opened up the door. Dunmang suddenly felt a gun being pressed to his temple. As the man said, Do you know about the Boston Marathon bombings? Yes. Do you know who did it? No. I did it. And I just killed a cop in Cambridge too. So you need to follow my instructions. From here, Tamerlan hopped into the car and stole Dunmang's ATM card.
and then they started driving towards an ATM so they could withdraw some money. Jahar was following close behind in his Honda Civic. Along the drive, Dunn said that Tamerlan actually struck up a conversation with him, asking him where he was from. Dunn said he was from China, and Tamerlan replied, After a few minutes,
They pulled the car over in a secluded area and Jahar started putting large bags into the trunk of the Mercedes. Dunn said that he thought about getting out and running away, but they were in a dark area and no one was outside, so he decided against it. From here, they ditched the Honda and Jahar hopped into the back seat. And then they drove to an ATM at Bank of America in Watertown, Massachusetts.
Once there, Jahar took Dunn's ATM card and went inside to withdraw cash. Dunn said he was terrified. He figured that the men were just going to shoot him and leave his body somewhere along the drive. After a few minutes, Jahar came back to the vehicle and they took off down the road once more. Dunn-Mang said that during the drive, Tamerlan kept making small talk.
But Jahar was eerily quiet in the back seat. The only time he spoke was when he asked to change the song that was playing on the radio. Now at this point, Dunn received a phone call from his roommate. Tamerlan told him to answer but said, If you say any single word in Chinese, I will kill you right now.
Dunn answered the phone in English, but his roommate was confused because they only spoke Mandarin to each other. So he asked him, "Why are you speaking English?" Dunn reassured his friend, saying, "Sorry, I'm at a friend's house. I'll talk to you later." Shortly after this, the brothers decide to pull into a Shell gas station.
They wanted to grab some snacks before they made the drive to New York City. So Jahar ran inside while Tamerlan stayed in the car with Dunmang. Video footage from inside the gas station shows Jahar casually walking through the aisles, carefully picking out his snacks. Back in the car, Dunmang sees people walking around outside.
And he knew right then that if he didn't try to escape, he wasn't going to make it out alive. Across the street was another gas station. And while Tamerlan was preoccupied looking at the GPS, Dunn quickly unbuckled his seatbelt, opened up the door, and took off running as fast as he could. He felt Tamerlan try and grab him, but luckily he was able to make it inside of the gas station across the street.
Video footage that we will be posting on both of our Instagram and Patreon shows Dun Meng run through the doors and crouch down. He then turns to the gas station attendant and begs him for a phone.
Scared that the men were going to follow him inside, Dunmang runs to the back of the store and calls 911. 911. Police, help me, please. They have guns. Where are they? They're in the gas station. They're in front of the gas station? Yeah. I just got it wrong. They say that they are the... They get the explosion, marauding explosion. They are mutinies.
While all of this was happening, Tamerlan quickly ran into the gas station where his brother was still walking around, grabbing snacks. Video footage shows him run into the store and yell out to his brother that they had to go now. Jahar then throws down his Red Bull and Doritos and the brothers quickly flee the scene in Dunmang's Mercedes. But what they didn't realize was that Dunn's phone was still in the car.
and he could track where it was going. Following this, the Watertown Police Department heard the following over the radio: "Be on the lookout. Suspect 1 is 5'7", the second with darker skin, both suspects armed with firearms, driving a black Mercedes SUV, registration 137NZ1. Carjacked at 816 Memorial Drive at the gas station in Cambridge. Suspects are two Middle Eastern males, one with darker skin. No description on clothing yet. Both are armed with firearms."
After hearing the radio dispatch, Officer Joe Reynolds starts heading towards the area where Cambridge and Watertown connected. The GPS had pinged in a few different locations as the brothers moved through the area, but now the GPS was saying that the Mercedes was only 100 yards away from Officer Reynolds' location. He radioed back and said that he was going to head in the direction of the SUV.
His sergeant, John McClellan, quickly joined him. And soon enough, they saw the black Mercedes slowly driving through a neighborhood. But keep in mind, the officers have no idea that the people in the vehicle are the Boston bombers. They just assume that they're random carjackers. But they radio in, letting everyone know that they have eyes on the vehicle. We got a call from KMHBD. They just pinged.
The phone number is in the vehicle in question on the car jack and it's in the area 61 Dexter Ave, the 2013 Mercedes. Okay, now the vehicle is moving now, units. Okay, they're pinging the vehicle. It's 89 Dexter Ave. It's the vehicle that's being pinged. The officers know that the men are armed and dangerous, so they take precaution as they move in. We're getting an update. There may be guns in the vehicle. Officer Reynolds stopped his vehicle a few car lengths back to keep his distance.
Then suddenly, he sees the Mercedes driver's side door fly open. Tamerlan emerged with a 9mm in hand and began shooting towards the officers. And from here, the shootout begins. We need assistance immediately. We've reported shots fired at officers. Shots fired at Watertown Police officers.
Officer Joe Reynolds and Sergeant John McClellan said that the bullets from Tamerlan's gun were just barely missing them and within seconds, several bullet holes went through their windshields. We need assistance immediately. Shot fired again. We have three units responding. The officers knew that they needed to move closer if they were going to take Tamerlan down. So Officer Reynolds actually opened up his car door.
put it in drive and let the car inch closer while he used the door as a shield. Slowly, the officers were moving in on Tamerlan as they continued to shoot in his direction. At this point, more officers are arriving at the scene, but suddenly, Jahar emerges from the vehicle and starts throwing dynamite towards the police.
In just a few minutes, this quiet, unassuming neighborhood became a war zone. Dynamite was being thrown. Glass was shattering. Car alarms were going off. Bullets were hitting the metal of the vehicles. And the police officers were screaming out, Give it up! Give it up! You're not going to win this! You're surrounded!
Many of the people living in the nearby homes looked outside to see a shootout right in front of their eyes. Soon enough, live tweets were being broadcast about the shootout, but still, no one had any idea that these were the Boston Bombers. One resident on Laurel Street was watching everything unfold when all of a sudden a bullet came crashing through their window right into their TV. Many spectators decided to take cover until the shootout was over.
Now, Sergeant Jeffrey Puglisi eventually arrives on scene and he can tell that some of their shots are actually hitting the older male with the gun. Tamerlan had been shot several times but he was still not going down. And at this point, the officers are only about 6 feet away from him. Tamerlan continues to shoot but he eventually runs out of ammunition.
The officers said he looked down at his gun, looks back up at them, and then throws down his pistol and begins running towards the Mercedes. With his back now turned, Sergeant Jeffrey Puglisi tackles him to the ground, but Tamerlan is still putting up a fight. So he starts to pistol whip him in the head as hard as he could about 10 to 12 times. But even then, he still wasn't able to knock him out.
Now, as this is happening, Jahar actually hopped into the Mercedes, put it in drive, and slammed on the gas. Officers who stood on the sidelines blasted the Mercedes with bullets, shattering the windshield and piercing Jahar's jaw with a bullet. But that didn't stop him. And as the officers are on the ground pistol-whipping Tamerlan, they suddenly see headlights coming in their direction.
Luckily, they were able to jump out of the way, but Tamerlan didn't and before they knew it, the Mercedes was seen running him over. The officers said that they watched as Tamerlan's body got tangled up in the tires and he was dragged nearly 30 feet down the road. His own brother ran him over and took off down the street in the Mercedes.
The responding officers tried to shoot at the vehicle, but surprisingly, Jahar Sarnaev was able to get away. Several police officers took off to try and locate the Mercedes, while the others tended to Tamerlan. He was quickly taken by ambulance to Beth Israel Hospital
where doctors tried to resuscitate him for nearly 15 minutes. But after 8 gunshot wounds and being run over by his own brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was pronounced dead.
Back at the scene, after the shootout had ended, the Boston police officers approached the Watertown officers and asked, Do you know who these guys are?
They responded that no, they didn't. And it was right then when they learned that they were the Boston Marathon bombers. They were shocked. That entire time, they thought that the men were just random carjackers. And interestingly enough, none of the Watertown police officers on scene had ever even had to shoot their guns in action until that very night. I bet they never imagined that their first shootout would be with the most high-profile criminals in America.
And this shootout did injure some of the responding officers. A Boston police officer named Dennis Simmons had been hit by the blast of one of the bombs and would suffer from severe head trauma. One year after the fight at Watertown, Simmons would die from an aneurysm caused by his injuries. The 28-year-old's name would be listed alongside the many police officers who had died in the line of duty.
He would also be considered the fifth victim of the Boston Marathon bombers. Transit police officer Richard Donahue Jr. had been shot during the standoff. Officers at the scene had applied pressure to his gunshot wound and had used a tourniquet to slow the bleeding. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he would fully recover from his injury. But back in Watertown, nearly every officer in the area was on the lookout for the black Mercedes. And they would eventually find it.
It was about three quarters of a mile away in the middle of the street, with its doors wide open. It appeared that the suspect had fled on foot, which was really scary because no one knew where he went or what kind of weapons he had with him. And now the biggest manhunt in Boston's history was underway. The city officials made a big announcement, warning everyone in the area to stay indoors and to watch out for the Boston Marathon bomber.
"We're asking people to shelter in place, in other words to stay indoors with their doors locked and not to open the door for anyone other than a properly identified law enforcement officer and that applies here in Watertown where we are right now and at this point all of Boston." Now keep in mind, law enforcement still has no idea who these men are.
And it's not like they can ask them because one of them is on the run and the other is dead. So the FBI actually went to the hospital where Tamerlan's body was and they used a fingerprinting system to fingerprint his dead finger. And immediately they got the results. For the first time ever, they now knew the name of one of their suspects.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26 years old, born in Russia, resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And from there, it didn't take them long to find out the name of the other suspect, Zhahar Tsarnaev, 19 years old, occupation student.
And something else I wanted to mention is that one of the Boston police officers actually took a picture of Tamerlan's body at the hospital and he sent it around to a few colleagues and the picture eventually got leaked. I was able to find it and if you have the stomach for it, we're going to post it on our Patreon so you can see the amount of trauma to his body, but warning, it is graphic.
I know a lot of people don't like when we post crime scene photos like that, but Colin and I are always interested in that kind of stuff, but we know it's not for everyone, so please view with caution. But as April 18th came to an end, law enforcement had still not found Shahar Sarnaev, and the entire city was on edge. Police went door to door in the early hours of the next morning trying to locate him, but no luck.
He is dressed in a gray hoodie type sweatshirt. He's a light skinned or Caucasian male with longer brown curly hair.
And people around Watertown and Boston were scared to death. They didn't know if the bomber was in their backyard or if they had somehow snuck into their home. Some people were even reporting hearing footsteps in their attics when no one was there. Everyone was understandably paranoid because a terrorist was on the loose in the city.
We believe this to be a terrorist. We believe this to be a man who's come here to kill people. There was so much mayhem around Boston, someone had even reported seeing a pipe bomb at the South train station. It ended up being a false alarm, but the city officials decided to shut the entire city down just to be safe.
They didn't want to take any chances of there being any other bombs. And it would make it easier finding their suspect if everyone was indoors. The FBI even went by Jahar's college dorm.
Surprisingly, they didn't even have a search warrant, but the head of the FBI gave them the go-ahead to search anyways. Which never happens. But that too ended up being a dead end. The streets were quiet with the only traffic in the area being SWAT, police officers, and the military.
Black Hawk helicopters flew overhead with spotlights in an attempt to find Jahar. The city of Boston issued a text message through a smartphone application called Alert Boston letting residents know about the Watertown manhunt and for everyone to shelter in place until Jahar was located. But hours and hours would pass, and Jahar Tsarnaev was still nowhere to be found, and investigators were exhausted. Nearly every officer in the area was up through the night searching for him.
Many people started to think he had fled the area entirely. And after nearly a day, the governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, decided to make an announcement. In light of the status of the investigation here in Watertown and the developments in the course of the day, the stay indoors request is lifted.
Now, what's interesting is that the FBI agents working the case didn't even know that the governor had lifted the lockdown. So when everyone started coming out of their homes, they were blindsided. But it wouldn't be long until they got the call they had been waiting for. A little before 7 p.m., a man named Dave Hanaberry looked out into his driveway and noticed that a strap was loose on his boat. He didn't think anything of it, so he walked outside to tighten it.
But when he approached the boat, he noticed blood dripping down the side. Curious, he lifts the cover and it was there when he saw a blood trail leading all the way to a seemingly lifeless body. And he immediately knew what he was looking at, so he quickly ran inside and called 911.
Hello?
Can you look at the boat without making yourself noticeable? I can look at it right now. Okay. I'm outside. Go back inside. I can hear the... Don't put yourself in harm's way. Stay away from the boat. I'm not going near the boat. I'm absolutely not going near the boat. After this call came in, all of the officers in the area made their way over to 67 Franklin Street, and soon enough the boat was surrounded.
but they had to be careful because they didn't know what kind of weapons jahar was carrying or even worse if he had any bombs on him i'm in the rear of the yacht i got eyes on the boat we got to get on somebody's poking on the roof of the boat helicopters flew over the boat with infrared equipment and saw the outline of a human body lying inside the boat
Now, no one really knows how this next part happened, but it's assumed that someone saw movement inside of the boat and decided to start firing in its direction. From here, all of the responding officers began shooting as well.
Within those few moments, 250 bullets hit the boat. Other homes in the area were shot as well. One bullet could be seen in a child's bedroom, right over its bed. Other homes around the boat had bullet holes in the walls and in their china cabinets. But surprisingly, none of those bullets would kill Jahar. And from here, they decided to hold fire.
And one reason they did this is because they didn't want to kill him. They wanted information as to why he did all of this, so getting him out alive was best case scenario. And they still weren't sure if he had a bomb, so they wanted to take precaution. All Watertown officers stay away, pull back from the house immediately. That's all Watertown officers, pull back.
Now at this point, an armed vehicle called Team Bearcat approached the boat, and it was able to take the covering off so that they could get a good look at Jahar. Once the covering of the boat was ripped off, law enforcement started throwing smoke grenades, hoping it would scare Jahar into getting out of the boat, but it didn't. We have movement in the boat. It just sat up.
Now Jahar was not coming out of the boat, so they sent an FBI negotiator who yelled through a bullhorn, "Come out. No one is going to hurt you. Keep your hands visible. You have to climb out. No one is coming in." And to everyone's surprise, Jahar could be seen slowly emerging from the boat covered in blood.
They yell at him to lift up his shirt, to make sure he didn't have any bombs strapped to his body. And once they had the clear, the SWAT team moved in and placed him under arrest. Jahar was severely injured with bullet wounds to his face, so he would have to be treated in the very hospital where his brother's body was located. Also in that hospital were dozens of victims that he injured in the Boston Marathon.
But Jahar Tsarnaev would make a full recovery, and soon enough, he would face the full weight of justice. But for now, the city of Boston could finally rest, knowing that the Bombers' reign of terror had come to an end.
But even though one of the bombers was dead and the other was in custody,
this story is far from over. In next week's episode, we are going to take a deep dive into the Tsarnaev brothers, where they came from, their religion, Jahar's trial, survivor stories, and the gruesome triple homicide that many people believe the bombers are connected to.
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That's simply safe with an I dot com slash in America. There's no safe like simply safe. And now let's get back to our story. Hey, everybody, it's Colin here. Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Murder in America.
So this is a story that I've wanted to cover on the podcast for a long time because for some reason I vividly remember this from when I was in high school. I was in high school at the time when this happened and I remember this being just such an insanely large story and I just could not believe that they hadn't caught the bombers for such a long time. And in next week's episode, we're covering some lesser known facts about the case, some brutal homicides that took place before the bombings. And I think you guys are going to really think it's interesting what we've all dug up.
But this week I want to thank our new patrons Lisa Frank, Asia Verbrugge, Kota Hunsaker, Donald Stewart, Justin, Melody Whipple, Azure Grillo, Jake Earls, Rashad Redway, and Luke.
Every single week we have so many new patrons and I cannot thank you guys enough for signing up to be a patron of ours. If you don't know what that is, you can head to patreon.com and every single week when the episode goes live on all streaming platforms, we post the ad-free version of every episode on our Patreon alongside crime scene photos that we can't post on different social medias that are a little too graphic. And we also post additional information about the cases. So if you're a fan of the show, go sign up for our Patreon today.
You can also follow us on Instagram at murder in America, where we post all the photos from each case that we cover every single week. As soon as the episodes go live, we love talking to y'all on there. We also have a Facebook group for murder in America that you can join. We have a couple thousand people in there that we love talking to all the time, but yeah, I'm going to stop taking up your guys's time. Thank you so much for listening. Have an amazing weekend. And I cannot wait to share what we uncovered with y'all next week.
It's Colin here. Thanks for listening. I'll catch you on the next one.