Suffolk County, Boston | featured news

BARNSTABLE — A grand jury has indicted a Massachusetts man who police say broke into homes while the residents attended wakes or funerals.The Cape Cod Times reports 35-year-old Randy Brunelle was indicted on seven counts Friday, including three counts of felony breaking and entering, three counts of larceny from a building and one count of attempt to commit a crime.Police, who deemed Brunelle the "obit bandit," believe he is responsible for at least three break-ins on Cape Cod. Plymouth police say he's a suspect in five similar break-ins in their town.

The expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats identified as intelligence agents and the closing of the Russian consulate in Seattle is a “body blow” for Kremlin spying on U.S. soil, but tit-for-tat recriminations and increased tensions are likely as the cycle of retaliation heats up, security experts say.

Yesterday’s guilty verdict in the trial of a Quincy man accused of animal cruelty so horrific that it led to changes in state law will likely pave the way for more protections for both animals and people, advocates and law enforcement said.

A high school student from Andover was arrested last night, accused of posting a picture of assault rifles on Snapchat along with a warning to fellow students not to come to school today, authorities said.“The alleged origin of the social media posts was traced to an Andover High School junior, and police went to his home to question him,” a press release from Andover Public School Superintendent Sheldon Berman stated.Police said the photo of assault rifles posted on Snapchat was downloaded from the internet. It was not an actual photo taken by the suspect.

Prosecutors are seeking to shield the identities of two U.S. Marshals Service’s Witness Security Program inspectors by blocking them with a screen and calling them by a pseudonym when they testify against former New England Mafia godfather Francis “Cadillac Frank” Salemme.If approved by U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs, Salemme’s trial courtroom will remain open to the public; however, only the accused murderer and his jury will be able to see the witnesses.

City councilors and community activists are wary of plans for Boston’s first medical marijuana dispensary to expand their business into recreational sales, arguing the operators promised to stick to medicinal pot when they were first approved.Patriot Care is looking to open an “adult-use marijuana establishment” to sell recreational pot in its location at 21 Milk St. and will present plans at a public hearing tomorrow. A Patriot Care spokesman said the facility’s exterior will not change and no marijuana use would be allowed on-site.

A 55-year-old Lynn man allegedly murdered his wife early yesterday morning, then called his sister to confess to the crime, police said.Miguel Castillo then remained in the apartment where, moments earlier, he had used a metal baseball bat to bludgeon her to death, police said.When cops arrived at the second-floor apartment on Chase Street, he answered the door and held his hands out to them.“Go ahead. Take me. I killed my wife,” police said he told them.

A former U.S. Marine recruiter identified by authorities as a person of interest in the disappearance of a 21-year-old Winthrop man was held on unrelated gun charges yesterday in court, where relatives of the missing man voiced their anger.Frank Walter Lipka, 39, is being investigated by Boston police for the disappearance of his former roommate and Marine recruit, Joseph Brancato, 21, prosecutor Michael Lefleur said. Brancato’s family members said yesterday they have not heard from Brancato since Nov. 18.

The Massachusetts Health Committee yesterday ordered further examination of proposed legislation that would allow doctors to help patients die — effectively spiking the bills for this session.

The starting price tag to protect Boston from rising seas is up to $2.5 billion — even before a $20 billion seawall is calculated in, researchers told city councilors in a special hearing yesterday.The University of Massachusetts Boston Sustainable Solutions Lab’s team insists the work has to be done to prevent more floods like those that saw debris flowing through city streets in recent storms.