A man on trial in the murders of two doctors inside their South Boston condominium told police that the worst thing he did was steal jewelry from the couple “cause I’m greedy,” according to a recording of the interview played in court Friday.
“I never seen all those kind of jewelry before,” Bampumim Teixeira told two Boston police detectives who interviewed him at Tufts Medical Center the day after police shot him during a confrontation inside the penthouse unit where Dr. Lina Bolaños and her fiance, Dr. Richard Field, were found handcuffed and stabbed to death.
Speaking in a whisper, Teixeira told Sergeant Detective Michael Devane and Detective Michael Walsh that as the two victims lay dead, he stuffed their jewelry inside a backpack with plans to sell it.
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“I’m homeless, I got no money,” he said. “That’s my worst mistake because it’s an opportunity for me to make money. That’s all it was.”
Teixeira, 33, is charged with killing the two anesthesiologists in their 11th-floor unit at the Macallen Building on May 5, 2017, just weeks after he had been released from jail after serving nine months for robbing the same bank twice. He had worked as a concierge at the Dorchester Avenue building for three weeks in 2016.
Superior Court Judge Mitchell Kaplan, who is presiding over the trial, asked Teixeira to stand Friday after prosecutors finished presenting evidence against him and the jury filed out of the courtroom for a brief recess.
“It’s my understanding you have decided not to testify in this case, is that correct?” Kaplan asked.
“Yes, your honor,” Teixeira said.
Closing arguments are slated for Monday.
In an earlier portion of the 80-minute interview with investigators, Teixeira told the detectives that he bypassed security and snuck into the building because he was having an affair with Bolaños and wanted to be “discreet.” He claimed that Field came home while he was “chatting” with Bolaños and became enraged.
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“It was hell,” said Teixeira, who claimed that Field pulled out a gun and two knives and stabbed Bolaños to death. He told the detectives he watched Field kill Bolaños, briefly hid in the bathroom, then used his “agility” to overpower Field and killed him in self-defense.
Teixeira’s account was dismissed as “preposterous” by Assistant District Attorney John Pappas in opening statements. Police have testified that it appeared Bolaños had been attacked in the hallway outside her apartment. Two packages she had picked up at the concierge desk when she arrived home shortly before 5 p.m. were found in the hallway outside her apartment door, along with her keys. Field arrived home nearly two hours later.
Teixeira claimed he met Bolaños while working at the Macallen Building and had an affair with her. But he was unable to provide basic information about her and was stumped when one of the detectives asked him if he knew her name.
“Oh gosh, hold on,” Teixeira said. “This is the first time I seen her in like 10 months. I think it’s Nilta . . . Nilda or Linda.”
He said he believed Bolaños was a nurse because he saw her in scrubs. She worked as a pediatric anesthesiologist. When asked whether anyone could verify his claim that he had a relationship with Bolaños, he said nobody else knew about it because “I keep everything to myself” and “I got no friends in this country.”
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Teixeira was born in Guinea-Bissau, a country in West Africa, and lived in Cape Verde before coming to the United States in 2010 and obtained permanent residency.
He told the detectives that he “messed with a lot of girls” when he lived in Cape Verde and had been in similar situations as he found himself in with the two doctors, but in those cases he was able to get out of it.
Police rushed to the Macallen Building after a friend received text messages from Field’s cellphone saying there was a gunman in the apartment. Officers testified that they shot Teixeira because he appeared to be pointing a gun at them. A BB gun was later found at the scene.
Relatives and friends of the two doctors have packed the courtroom during nine days of testimony. On Thursday, they were visibly distraught as a medical examiner testified that Field died from a stab wound to the neck that nearly severed his carotid artery and Bolaños sustained 24 “sharp force injuries” around her neck.
On Friday, Teixeira appeared upbeat. He laughed and smiled as he chatted with his attorney, Steven Sack, before being led away in shackles and handcuffs.
Shelley Murphy can be reached at shelley.murphy@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @shelleymurph.