The Reported 'Best Friend' Of The Dead Boston Bombing Suspect Was The Victim In Brutal Unsolved Murder Two Years Ago

The most intriguing nugget from the big Boston Globe profile of the Tsarnaev Brothers (the brothers suspected of carrying out the Boston Marathon attack) is this one:

Gym owner Allan said that Tamerlan had once introduced him to an American, Brendan Mess, whom Tamerlan described as his best friend.

Two years ago, Mess and two other men were brutally killed in a Waltham apartment where they were found by police with their throats slit and their bodies covered with marijuana. The murders remain unsolved.

Nobody states that there's a connection, but obviously now everyone's wondering if there is one.

The murders were a big deal at the time, due to the disturbing, grisly nature of the crime.

This video by the local CBS affiliate captures the reaction:

As months went by without a resolution, the case got more attention.

From The Braindeis university paper in November 2011:

Nearly two months after police officers rushed to 12 Harding Ave. on a September afternoon and found three men dead in a triple homicide; nearly two months after reporters from every Boston TV station stood behind the yellow crime scene tape, surrounded by flashing red and blue lights, demanding updates from Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone and airing interviews with neighbors on the nightly news; and nearly two months after three men under the age of 40 were stabbed to death in the neck just three miles from Brandeis University, law enforcement is still searching for answers, officials said Thursday.

The seasons have turned since the warm night on Sept. 12 when detectives began an investigation into the triple murder of Brendan Mess, 25, of Waltham; Erik Weissman, 31, of Cambridge; and Raphael Teken, 37, of Cambridge, who graduated from Brandeis in 1998 and majored in history. Updates on the investigation have not been noticeable.

After describing the apartment that night as a “very graphic crime scene” Leone later released a statement saying that “based on the present state of the investigation, it is believed that the victims knew the assailant or assailants, and the attacks were not random.”

And a year later from the Waltham Patch (September 2012):

A year after the triple murder at 12 Harding Ave., investigators say they are still actively investigating the case and pursuing leads.

Today, Sept. 12, marks one year since the murders of Raphael Teken, of Waltham, Erik Weissman, of Cambridge and Brendan Mess, of Waltham, at 12 Harding Ave.

Nobody has been arrested in connection with the case and police never publicly named any suspects. Mess had been living in the second floor unit of the house.

“Solving this case remains a priority for this office. We have not forgotten about Brendan, Erik or Raphael. Our hope remains that we are eventually able to provide justice for the victims’ families,” said Stephanie Chelf Guyotte, the Middlesex District Attorney's office spokesman, in an email to Waltham Patch.

Almost certainly, this case will get renewed attention.