A man who left a couple dead in pools of blood in their Boston penthouse heard his punishment Friday by video conference, preemptively banished from the courtroom after his earlier outbursts in the stunning double-murder case.
Bampumim Teixeira received two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for murder in the 2017 stabbing deaths of Lina Bolanos and Richard Field, both anesthesiologists who were engaged to be married.
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The double murder trial of Bampumim Teixeira brought to light the final harrowing night of two well-known Boston anesthesiologists who were stabbed to death in their own home in 2017.
Teixeira watched the sentencing live from a nearby room, standing silently under guard, his hands shackled behind his back. A TV in the main courtroom showed his reaction: Nodding, before being led away.
Judge Mitchell Kaplan made Teixeira watch in that separate room, after Teixeira wastwice dragged out of court Tuesday — the day he was convicted — once for threatening the prosecutor, and once for shouting about Field’s last words.
Teixeira declined Kaplan’s offer to make a statement by microphone.
Instead, the words of the victims’ loved ones resonated most deeply. Three people gave emotional tributes to Bolanos and Field in court Friday before the sentencing, at one point moving one of the prosecutors to tears.
Bolanos’ mother, Ana Delia Vergara, addressed the court in her native Spanish, thanking God for choosing her to be her mom before hailing Field as the love of Bolanos’ life.
“They will love each other in heaven,” she said through an interpreter before removing her glasses and sobbing.
Kaplan also sentenced Teixeira for other convictions in the case — 25 years for armed robbery, 20 for home invasion and at least nine for kidnapping — all of which Kaplan said were largely symbolic, given his life terms.
Related: She called 911 before being killed. The operator hung up when she couldn’t respond
Harrowing testimony
The trialbrought to light the final harrowing night of the two well-known Boston anesthesiologists.
Prosecutors say Teixeira worked briefly as a concierge in the couple’s building and became familiar with its layout during that time.
On May 5, 2017, they say, he sneaked inside and made his way to the 11th floor penthouse where Bolanos and Field lived. He bound their hands, stabbed them to death and wrote haunting messages on the walls, witnesses testified.
Despite their many attempts to call 911 and reach a friend by text, authorities didn’t make it to the penthouse in time. First responders found Bolanos, 39, and Field, 48, in pools of blood.
Police officers found Teixeira inside the penthouse, where they shot and injured him, thinking he was holding a firearm, Boston officers testified.
During the three-week trial, many cried out loud when Pappas played a 911 call Bolanos made moments before her death. Her voice came out muffled and soon she stopped responding. The operator warned they would release the call and eventually hung up.
A friend of the couple testified he received a series of text messages from Field’s phone, urging him to call 911 because a gunman was in their home. Phone logs presented in court showed someone had called 911 from Field’s phone eight times.
Teixeira, who pleaded not guilty, told police a day after the killings that he was having an affair with Bolanos.
Teixeira alleged Field walked in on them and stabbed his fiancée to death, and that Teixeira killed Field in self-defense.
But the defense presented no evidence to support Teixeira’s account, which Pappas called “imagined.”
Field’s brother offers tearful tribute
At Friday’s sentencing hearing, Field’s younger brother, Jason, broke down in tears several times as he tried to explain how much the slain couple meant to him, his wife and his children.
Richard Field was like a second father to Jason’s four children, who started calling Bolanos “Auntie Lina” when the couple became engaged, Jason Field said.
“My children were so excited to elevate her to that special place, being their aunt,” the brother said.
He lamented having to pack up the couple’s belongings at their penthouse. He noted that those belongings included Bolanos’ pamphlets about fertility.
“By the way she acted around my children and attached herself to babies from within her family and at work, you could tell instinctively that she not only wanted to be a mom, but would be a great mom, as she had so much love to give,” he said.
Her mother, Vergara, cried loudly when he said this.
Outside the court, reporters asked Jason Field whether the sentencing gave him closure.
“I don’t know,” he responded.
Teixeira threatened prosecutor
On Tuesday morning, Teixeira threatened prosecutor Pappas in court, telling him, “You better hope I never get out of jail.”
Later that day, Teixeira yelled in court: “You wanna know his last words?”
The Suffolk County District Attorney says investigators in her office are investigating the threat against Pappas
“Once this investigation is completed we will determine whether additional charges will be brought against Mr. Teixeira. The 300 employees in my office work tirelessly to make the communities in Suffolk County safe,” District Attorney Rachael Rollins said.
The life sentences will automatically be appealed under Massachusetts law. Teixeira can choose to appeal the other sentences.
