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Victims identified in South Boston double slaying

Drs. Richard Field (left) and Lina Bolanos were killed last week in their South Boston home. Handout photos

In his final, terrifying moments, Dr. Richard Field managed to send a last text message from his luxury apartment in South Boston on Friday night: a plea to a friend for help.

But by the time Boston police arrived on the 11th floor of 141 Dorchester Ave., around 8:45 p.m., it was too late. Field and his fiancée, Dr. Lina Bolanos, were dead, with their throats slit, according to two officials with knowledge of the investigation.

And when police officers opened the door, said Boston Police Commissioner William Evans, 30-year-old Bampumim Teixeira — described by his ex-girlfriend as a former security guard who had just finished a nine-month sentence for robbing two banks — opened fire on them.

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“This individual had just killed two people,” said Evans on Saturday. “He had nothing to lose.”

Police fired back, striking but not killing Teixeira, who was taken to Tufts Medical Center for treatment; charges against him were still being compiled Saturday. No officers were hit. When the SWAT team arrived to sweep the apartment and make sure there were no other shooters, they found a horrific scene.

The bodies were bound at the hands and there was blood on the walls, said the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. One of the officials said the killer had also written a message of retribution on the wall.

Photos of the two doctors had been cut up, the officials said.

Teixeira’s ex-girlfriend, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect her privacy, said Teixeira had texted and called her out of the blue on April 22.

He told her she would never see him again, she said, and that he didn’t plan on living for long.

He told her he would never hurt anyone, she said bitterly. “Lies.”

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Police found a black backpack filled with jewelry at the apartment that presumably belonged to Lina Bolanos, a prosecutor said at Teixeira’s hospital bed arraignment.
Police found a black backpack filled with jewelry at the apartment that presumably belonged to Lina Bolanos, a prosecutor said at Teixeira’s hospital bed arraignment.

Investigators are still trying to determine a motive for the slaying. Officials have said that Teixeira and the two doctors were known to each other, but have not said how. The two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said Field had texted a friend for help.

“It’s very troubling,” said Evans on Saturday. “These are two well-respected people killed in their penthouse apartment.”

Bolanos’s godfather, Michael Gibbs, described the couple as “good, kind, gentle people.”

“Hopefully, this guy that they caught will be able to say who he is and why this was done,” said Gibbs. “That’s all we’re hoping, is to get some kind of information. Why did this happen?”

Field, 49, was a doctor at North Shore Pain Management, certified in interventional pain management and anesthesiology, according to a biography on the company’s website.

He had completed a fellowship in pain management at Massachusetts General Hospital, served as an instructor at Harvard Medical School, and worked as an attending pain physician and director of anesthesia for plastic surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the biography said.

“Dr. Field was a guiding vision at North Shore Pain Management and was instrumental in the creation of this practice,” read a statement posted by his practice. “His tragic and sudden passing leaves an inescapable void in all of us.”

Bolanos, 38, was a pediatric anesthesiologist at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and an anesthesia instructor at Harvard Medical School.

“Dr. Bolanos was an outstanding pediatric anesthesiologist and a wonderful colleague, in the prime of both her career and life,” said John Fernandez, president & CEO of Mass Eye and Ear, in a statement.

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“We will do all we can to support their families and our staff members who are processing this senseless tragedy and grieving an enormous loss.”

Teixeira had just been released from a house of correction in April, according to his ex-girlfriend and prosecutors. He had pleaded guilty last year to two counts of larceny for twice passing notes demanding money at the same bank, once in 2014 and once in 2016, according to Jake Wark, spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. He was sentenced to 364 days in a house of correction with nine months to serve and the balance suspended.

At the time of his arrest, an official with knowledge said, he listed himself as a security guard, and his ex-girlfriend also said he worked as a security guard.

The vice president of the company Teixeira said employed him said he could not confirm whether Teixeira worked for him, but said his company did not provide security for the building at 141 Dorchester Ave.

On Saturday afternoon, Teixeira’s ex-girlfriend described him as a “charming” “gentleman” who was good with her 9-year-old son and never displayed a hint of violence.

She never saw Teixeira drink, smoke, or use drugs, and he was always well-dressed, she said. She trusted him with the keys to her apartment.

“Slacks with shoes, a button-up shirt, jacket with a tie,” she said. “I don’t think he owns a pair of sneakers.”

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Teixeira told her he was born in Guinea-Bissau and raised in Cape Verde by an aunt, with whom he moved to the Boston area when he was in his 20s, she said. After a falling out with the aunt, he lived in shelters, he had told her.

He was living in Cambridge during their relationship, according to his ex-girlfriend.

He seemed isolated, she said. He wasn’t on social media at the time and she hadn’t met his friends or family.

His ex-girlfriend said they dated for about six months before he suddenly broke up with her in February 2016, offering no explanation — except to say that he was “not a good person.”

Later that summer, she was floored to see on social media that he was wanted in connection with a bank robbery.

And she was surprised again when he texted her two weeks ago, apologizing for causing her pain and congratulating her on getting engaged.

“I spent the last 10 months in jail I got out 2 weeks ago,” Teixeira wrote in text messages, dated April 22, and shared with the Globe.

They spoke for more than an hour on the phone that day. He told her again, “I’m not a good person,” she said.

“I said, ‘I didn’t believe you when you said that the first time, but after you became a bank robber, I believe you!’ ” she said. “And we started laughing.”

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She asked him why, if he was a thief, he never stole from her.

“He said, “No, I don’t steal from people. I rob banks,” she said. “I said, ‘OK — but you don’t hurt people, right?’ He said, ‘No, no, no, I wouldn’t do something like that.’ ”

She was confused about why he had suddenly reached out. He told her he didn’t plan to live long, she said, but when she asked if he was suicidal, he laughed.

“No, no, no, no, nothing like that,” he told her, she said.

She told him she would pray for him, and said he responded, “Yeah, I need prayer.”

The ex-girlfriend didn’t know what to make of the phone call. And she was shocked at his alleged involvement in the double-murder.

On Saturday afternoon, she wept as she spoke about it.

“Why would he do this?” she asked.


Cristela Guerra of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Evan Allen can be reached at evan.allen@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @EvanMAllen. Maria Cramer can be reached atmcramer@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @GlobeMCramer. Nicole Fleming can be reached atnicole.fleming@globe.com. Felicia Gans can be reached at felicia.gans@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @FeliciaGans.