UPDATE 3:06 p.m. Friday, August 2:
Local District Attorney Marian Ryan has confirmed that Stephen Rakes’ poisoning death was a homicide. He drank a McDonald’s iced coffee laced with cyanide.
Ryan says Rakes was lured to a McDonald's where the suspect laced his iced coffee with the cyanide.
— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) August 2, 2013
Ryan says there is no indication of a link to Whitey Bulger case. She said the case was about a "business transaction" and "land deals."
— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) August 2, 2013
RT @globejenpeter: Disappointing conspiracy theorists, DA says death was based on a land deal, not something to do with the #Bulger trial.
— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) August 2, 2013
William Camuti, 69, of Sudbury faces attempted murder and other charges in Rakes death.
— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) August 2, 2013
Original post below.
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One of the original witnesses in the trial of Boston mobster James ‘Whitey’ Bulger, Stephen Rakes, appears to have died after being poisoned by Cyanide, reports WCVB.
The station also reports that police “have” a person of interest in the death. Rakes had been down to appear as a witness for the prosecution in Bulger’s trial. He alleged that the mobster and his gang took control of Rakes’ liquor store from him at gunpoint in 1984. His body was found in Lincoln, Massachusetts on July 18.
Police say Stephen Rakes, 59, was from Quincy in South Boston. However, according to ABC, Rakes’ body was found off a walking path on Mill Street in the Boston suburb Lincoln, Massachusetts. A satellite view of the street shows a secluded wooded area.
At the time of Rakes’ death police didn’t notice any signs of trauma:
Via the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office:
