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Backpack full of jewelry discovered at S. Boston murder scene

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.

A Chelsea man accused of viciously murdering two doctors in a South Boston penthouse had once worked in a security job at the complex and apparently had filled a backpack with jewelry before he was shot by police Friday, according to details that emerged Monday.

Police discovered the backpack inside the door to the $1.9 million condominium unit after police shot and subdued Bampumim Teixeira there, prosecutors said. He was wearing black clothing and dark-colored gloves, authorities said.

Teixeira, 30, was ordered held without bail after pleading not guilty to killing the doctors — Lina Bolaños, 38, and Richard Field, 50 — whose bodies were discovered bound and whose throats had been cut, according to authorities and information provided to the Globe.

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Teixeira had been in a security job at the condominium complex near the MBTA’s Broadway Station sometime before 2016, according to a police report. Boston detectives were told about his work at the complex when they were investigating an earlier robbery at a bank. He completed his sentence for two bank robberies last month.

At Teixeira’s bedside arraignment at Tufts Medical Center Monday, Suffolk Assistant District Attorney John Pappas said police reported that Teixeira had shot at them. Hours later on Monday, after learning more from police, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said that it appeared Teixeira had not fired a gun and that one had not been found on him after he was captured.

Conley also dismissed initial reports from police that Teixeira and the victims apparently knew each other.

“There is no evidence whatsoever at this stage that the defendant had a personal relationship with either Dr. Field or Dr. Bolaños,” Conley said at an afternoon news conference. “Nor is there any evidence to explain why he would attack them so viciously.”

The report that Teixeira had opened fire came from preliminary interviews with officers at the scene, according to Lieutenant Detective Michael McCarthy. Some officers believed the suspect was in a shooting posture or that the shots fired by other officers had come from Teixeira, he said. A replica .357 handgun was recovered at the scene, he added.

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“A scene like that can become quite chaotic,” McCarthy said. “The officers felt their lives were in danger.”

A judge, prosecutor, court workers, and reporters gathered in the suspect’s hospital room about 1:45 p.m. Monday for an initial court appearance. Teixeira, covered nearly to the neck by a blanket, barely moved as Pappas provided details of the homicides in the small private room. Attached to wires and monitors, Teixeira nodded at one point when bail was discussed.

Steven J. Sack, Teixeira’s court-appointed defense attorney, did not challenge the order by Judge Michael Bolden that he be held without bail. In the proceeding, prosecutors described what investigators believe occurred Friday night.

Just before 9 p.m., police responded to the penthouse unit at 141 Dorchester Ave. after getting a call from a friend of the doctors, who had received a text from Field saying a gunman was in the apartment.

The message, Pappas said, was “a plea for help” from the two physicians, who friends said had planned to marry this year.

Officers found a set of keys on the floor outside the unit, shouted into the apartment, and received no response, authorities said.

Police then used the keys to enter the unlit unit.

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Pappas said during the arraignment that gunfire erupted when one of the officers encountered Teixeira. The suspect was shot in his abdomen, leg, and left hand before police took him into custody outside the unit, authorities said.

No officers were injured.

But Conley later said that when police walked into the darkened apartment, they believed a gun was pointed at them or was being fired at them.

At least one knife and a replica gun were found at the scene, he said.

“We are not drawing any negative connotations or conclusions,” Conley said about the actions of the police officers. “We are simply informing the public in order to correct the record.”

Teixeira allegedly told police that there was another man in the condo who was prepared to shoot them, prosecutors said. The bodies were discovered as police searched the apartment.

Field worked at North Shore Pain Management, a business he helped create. Bolaños was a pediatric anesthesiologist at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.

Pappas did not say how authorities believe Teixeira reached the top of the Macallen Building.

However, his work at the building emerged during a 2016 investigation of a Boston bank robbery. Security workers at the complex identified Teixeira for detectives and said he had worked there, according to Boston police reports.

Teixeira completed a nine-month sentence in April for two robberies at the Summer Street branch of Citizens Bank in downtown Boston in 2014 and 2016.

His former girlfriend, who asked not to be identified, said in an interview Monday that she had never noticed any of her jewelry or possessions being missing. The man she had dated seemed completely different from the one charged in a double murder, she said.

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“Something is wrong with him,” the woman said.

Teixeira texted and called her unexpectedly on April 22, the former girlfriend said. He told her that she would never see him again and that he did not plan on living for long, the woman said.

Property records show that Field paid $1.94 million for the 2,025-square-foot penthouse on July 17, 2013. The apartment is part of the 148-unit Macallen Building.

In 2014, Bolaños paid $710,000 for a two-bedroom condominium unit across the street at 150 Dorchester Ave., property records show. The district attorney said she was living with Field.

The Macallen is one of two buildings in the Court Square condominium complex, which includes a glass-and-red-brick structure at the corner of Dorchester Avenue and Broadway. Trustees from the Court Square Press Condo Association released a statement Monday, expressing shock at the killings.

“There are no words that can fully convey our sadness for the families of both victims,” the statement said.

Current and former residents described tight security staffed 24 hours a day. The complex did not have doormen but employed a concierge service that had employees in the lobby who controlled access to the buildings. Residents could also enter the building through the secure parking garage.

Palladion Services provided the concierge service until Feb. 18, when the complex switched to a new company. It could not be determined what precipitated the change. The new company, Highbridge Concierge, calls itself a premium residential management company.

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Its founder, Patrick J. Knight, declined on Monday to discuss the complex’s security.


John R. Ellement and Andrew Rosen of the Globe staff and correspondent Nicole Fleming contributed to this report. Brian MacQuarrie can be reached at brian.macquarrie@globe.com. Andrew Ryan can be reached at acryan@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeAndrewRyan. Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @globemcramer.