Campus Connections: Tsarnaev Brothers curious links
by W. Owl 5/11/2015 Updated 5/16/2015
How did one of the top U.S. academic institutions, a portal to a privileged life, become the focus of so many Marathon bombing-related inquiries? Cambridge's MIT educates the intellectual elite of the nation, with an undergraduate degree valued at $200,000 plus. The two blue-collar, academically undistinguished, foreign-born Tsarnaev brothers are not its typical consumer. How did the brothers so successfully navigate the college's maze of streets and buildings to locate and ambush a parked campus cop well after darkness set? The oddity of the MIT connections in the official Tsarnaev narrative has always been yet another nagging piece of unfinished business. And now the DOJ-released surveillance video of the brothers has them allegedly marching directly to Officer Collier’s parked cruiser on Thursday eve for no purpose other than to secure an extra gun when the entire City of Boston was on their tail.
But right from the start, after the FBI release of the photos of the brothers at the 5PM Thursday press conference, unexpected connections arose.
But right from the start, after the FBI release of the photos of the brothers at the 5PM Thursday press conference, unexpected connections arose.
Fast Cars, High Times
The initial odd coincidence appeared in a 4/19/13 Dallas News article. Turns out Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Sean Collier were linked by the same boxing trainer, a Bob Covino. "The dead Boston Marathon bombing suspect and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology officer allegedly killed by the suspect and his brother have links to the same boxing trainer. Bob Covino co-founded the Somerville Boxing Club in the late 1970s. He says 26-year-old bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev trained at that gym several years ago. Covino says the MIT officer slain by the bombing suspects, Sean Collier, began volunteering with him at a gym in a different location in Somerville seven or eight months ago.” This begs the question, did Tamerlan and Collier ever cross paths? And if they did, how deep was the connection? And a more puzzling question: how could this seemingly innocuous connection have prompted the Tsarnaevs to seek him out and shoot him point blank?
A second link became known that same day from an LA Times interview with Gilberto Junior Tercetti, owner of Jr’s Auto Body shop in Somerville. Tercetti's shop is a comfortable walking distance from Officer Collier's parking spot at the MIT Stata Center. Tercetti told reporters: "Tsarnaev often brought in cars for wealthy friends from Boston University and MIT, and always paid in cash. Tsarnaev's friends were all wealthy and Turkish." "(They) drove Range Rovers, Porsche Cayennes and BMWs.” Curiously, "The FBI interviewed Junior on Friday morning and he told them everything.” The article does not clarify how the FBI came to know about Junior’s relationship with the Tsarnaevs. Instead it simply reports he recognized Tsarnaev in the mistakenly linked 7-11 robbery photo released by former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis in the early morning hours of April 19th.
The FBI was said to have just discovered where the brothers lived. Why was the business where Tsarnaev had his auto body work done such high priority for the FBI to descend on Junior when Tamerlan’s body had barely reached the hospital morgue? Why would a 19 year old Dzhokhar, attending college 60 miles away in southern Massachusetts have a relationship with so many MIT students? During his trial, Tsarnaev was acknowledged to have had a small marijuana business. Was he also dealing weed to MIT students?
While we have no answers here, in October 2013, FOX Undercover shed some light on this subject. "One explanation why there were at least some FBI surveillance teams in Cambridge during the week following the explosions: several MIT students were being looked at as suspects.” Who were these students? Might any of them own cars Dzhokhar might have taken into Tercetti’s autobody shop for repairs? Could there have been a deeper connection to the hidden world of the Tsarnaev brothers involving one or more of this prestigious campus' students?
Friend of a Friend of a Friend
In July of 2013, the Boston Globe unintentionally revealed a third connection when it published a report on another local with suspicious materials in his possession. "Daniel Morley, a technician who spent seven years working in the division of comparative medicine at MIT cleaning animal cages, etc., was arrested with pressure cookers. He also had ball bearings and fertilizer, a shotgun and pistol, hundreds of rounds of high-caliber ammunition, swords, knives, and anti-Semitic and antigovernment literature.” ‘I’m sorry for what I have done . . . and I will have to answer only to God,’ he told his mother, according to the court records.
Morley's mom told investigators she was shocked at her son’s reaction to the Marathon bombings. “What’s the big deal, people are dying all over the place,” he said, according to the sworn statement. Morley was placed in Bridgwater State Hospital, a facility for the criminally insane or for those whose sanity is being evaluated for the criminal justice system. He has not re-surfaced in the news since being admitted. Many have remarked Mr. Morley bears more than a passing likeness to Thursday's Central Square 7-11 robber. While the convenience store is walking distance from where Collier was parked on the MIT campus, no claims of a link have ever been made. And yet another odd connection is Morley’s best friend, a man who acknowledged attending the same boxing venue as Tamerlan Tsarnaev in South Boston. Might they also have crossed paths at the gym?
Morley's mom told investigators she was shocked at her son’s reaction to the Marathon bombings. “What’s the big deal, people are dying all over the place,” he said, according to the sworn statement. Morley was placed in Bridgwater State Hospital, a facility for the criminally insane or for those whose sanity is being evaluated for the criminal justice system. He has not re-surfaced in the news since being admitted. Many have remarked Mr. Morley bears more than a passing likeness to Thursday's Central Square 7-11 robber. While the convenience store is walking distance from where Collier was parked on the MIT campus, no claims of a link have ever been made. And yet another odd connection is Morley’s best friend, a man who acknowledged attending the same boxing venue as Tamerlan Tsarnaev in South Boston. Might they also have crossed paths at the gym?
Even local law enforcement joined in, when in a surprisingly candid interview conducted by WBUR, Officer Clarence Henninger who was Sean Collier's superior reveals our fourth link between the Tsarnaev brothers and MIT. “The word on the street was that the suspects may have been visiting a friend at MIT.…[the suspects] were familiar with MIT, they have been there in the past, so that’s what we were told, that they had friends there at MIT.” Who was this friend? Was it one of the students the FBI were looking at as a potential suspect?
Update 5/16/2015: We've now learned from the trial the FBI interviewed a man named Magomed Dolakov, a 20 something year old physicist from Mozdok, Russia. He came to the US in June 16, 2012 through Houston, where his sister is said to live, and then moved to Boston in July, 2012. He told them his plan was to study Physics at MIT. He also lived in Somerville. According to the FBI interview, Mr. Dolokov met Tamerlan at the Prospect Street mosque. Over nearly a year leading to the 2013 marathon, they met for coffee at Starbucks, (the same business where he had tow of his FBI interviews,) they travelled together to the Quincy mosque, and attended Wai Kru just 3 days before the marathon at which time he met Dzhokhar for the first time.They talked a lot about religion. Although Dolokov was not an MIT student, he says he spent “every day” at the MIT campus library or the Cambridge public library. His father works in the Russian oil industry, and it is unclear how he supported himself in Boston, until he disappeared shortly after the bombings. The FBI report indicated they had interviewed him three times.
In October 2013, due to public pressure about the timeline of FBI relationship with the Tsarnaevs, the FBI was compelled to respond to questions about their presence in Cambridge Thursday evening, before the shootout. Here is their comment: "The Joint Terrorism Task Force was at M.I.T., located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Thursday, April 18, 2013, on a matter unrelated to the Tsarnaev brothers.” So, were they at MIT surveilling other MIT students or employees? Was there information gleaned from the discredited "suspect arrest" events on Wednesday 4/19 leading the Feds to the campus the next evening? Could it be possible the bombs were assembled on the campus or by someone related to MIT? The location of the bomb construction was not disclosed during Dzhokhar's trial, and while some black power residues may (or may not) have been discovered in Tamerlan's Cambridge apartment, nothing definitive has been revealed by the DOJ on this question.
And neither the JTTF nor the DOJ have offered any further clarifications about their activities that night.
Update 5/16/2015: We've now learned from the trial the FBI interviewed a man named Magomed Dolakov, a 20 something year old physicist from Mozdok, Russia. He came to the US in June 16, 2012 through Houston, where his sister is said to live, and then moved to Boston in July, 2012. He told them his plan was to study Physics at MIT. He also lived in Somerville. According to the FBI interview, Mr. Dolokov met Tamerlan at the Prospect Street mosque. Over nearly a year leading to the 2013 marathon, they met for coffee at Starbucks, (the same business where he had tow of his FBI interviews,) they travelled together to the Quincy mosque, and attended Wai Kru just 3 days before the marathon at which time he met Dzhokhar for the first time.They talked a lot about religion. Although Dolokov was not an MIT student, he says he spent “every day” at the MIT campus library or the Cambridge public library. His father works in the Russian oil industry, and it is unclear how he supported himself in Boston, until he disappeared shortly after the bombings. The FBI report indicated they had interviewed him three times.
In October 2013, due to public pressure about the timeline of FBI relationship with the Tsarnaevs, the FBI was compelled to respond to questions about their presence in Cambridge Thursday evening, before the shootout. Here is their comment: "The Joint Terrorism Task Force was at M.I.T., located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Thursday, April 18, 2013, on a matter unrelated to the Tsarnaev brothers.” So, were they at MIT surveilling other MIT students or employees? Was there information gleaned from the discredited "suspect arrest" events on Wednesday 4/19 leading the Feds to the campus the next evening? Could it be possible the bombs were assembled on the campus or by someone related to MIT? The location of the bomb construction was not disclosed during Dzhokhar's trial, and while some black power residues may (or may not) have been discovered in Tamerlan's Cambridge apartment, nothing definitive has been revealed by the DOJ on this question.
And neither the JTTF nor the DOJ have offered any further clarifications about their activities that night.
Wednesday's Arrest that Wasn't
The final connection took place Wednesday, April 17, 2013 when multiple reports filtered in from the MSM an arrest in the bombings had been made. David Boeri of Boston’s WBUR was at the J.J. Moakley Courthouse that afternoon and is on record stating 4 officials-including 2 judges-told him court staff had been instructed to prepare a courtroom and an overflow. In fact, reporter Kelly Tuthill said courtroom 18 was being prepared. (The courtroom used by Judge William G. Young, the judge who presided over 'shoe-bomber' Richard Reid's sentencing.)
The place was crackling with security. It was reported a dark-skinned suspect was en route to court in custody of US Marshalls and indeed a US Marshalls wagon with armed footplate rider arrived at the courthouse and entered the building. The van arrived shortly after the “code red” (bomb threat) was called. After everyone evacuated, the van then entered the building during the clearing of the code red, which took roughly a half an hour. This all happened despite the suspect arrest being denied beginning around 2PM, and was then followed by the bomb scare emptying the Courthouse of all Moakley personnel and pushing the media back across the street.
While conventional wisdom labelled these misreported events a misunderstanding, CNN spokeswoman Barbara Levin noted the network had three credible sources on the local and federal levels for King’s initial report. Still, King and others were ridiculed for their on-air releases and had to offer apologies.
And yet, there were also many informal social media reports a motorcade had originated from MIT at a time roughly coincident with the arrival of the U.S. Marshalls wagon at Moakley Courthouse. Entirely unrelated, that motorcade, or could it truly have been escorting someone from MIT?
The place was crackling with security. It was reported a dark-skinned suspect was en route to court in custody of US Marshalls and indeed a US Marshalls wagon with armed footplate rider arrived at the courthouse and entered the building. The van arrived shortly after the “code red” (bomb threat) was called. After everyone evacuated, the van then entered the building during the clearing of the code red, which took roughly a half an hour. This all happened despite the suspect arrest being denied beginning around 2PM, and was then followed by the bomb scare emptying the Courthouse of all Moakley personnel and pushing the media back across the street.
While conventional wisdom labelled these misreported events a misunderstanding, CNN spokeswoman Barbara Levin noted the network had three credible sources on the local and federal levels for King’s initial report. Still, King and others were ridiculed for their on-air releases and had to offer apologies.
And yet, there were also many informal social media reports a motorcade had originated from MIT at a time roughly coincident with the arrival of the U.S. Marshalls wagon at Moakley Courthouse. Entirely unrelated, that motorcade, or could it truly have been escorting someone from MIT?
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Important Disclaimer: This work is a compilation of published news stories, with links to the original sources. It is in no way intended to discredit or imply the institution where these events occurred, its representatives, personnel or student body had any relation to or supported the individual convicted of the Marathon bombing.
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We actively encourage comments, discussion and debate on this site! Please remember to keep it relevant and be respectful at all times.
