.jpg "According to authorities in Massachusetts, the attacker cut the throat of a 75-year-old man before falling asleep on the couch.")
According to authorities in Massachusetts, the attacker cut the throat of a 75-year-old man before falling asleep on the couch.
An intruder killed a 75-year-old man in his apartment before eating his food and spending the night on his couch, according to Massachusetts prosecutors.
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A man, later identified as 30-year-old Dion Pelzer, entered an apartment building in Boston’s West End at around 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 15 by closely following a resident inside, according to a news release from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
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Pelzer tried to open the doors of “numerous” apartments on the 11th floor before eventually getting into David MacDonald’s unit, prosecutors said. MacDonald would often leave his door unlocked so that social services, such as Meals on Wheels, could get inside without him having to get up to answer the door.
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Once Pelzer entered the apartment, he “slashed” MacDonald’s throat, ate his food and slept on his couch, prosecutors said.
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Neighbors knocked on MacDonald’s door at around 8:40 a.m. the following morning, but it was locked. Surveillance video shows Pelzer leaving the apartment building just before 9:15 a.m, prosecutors said. He took MacDonald’s wallet, credit cards and keys, according to the district attorney’s office.
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Boston officers found MacDonald dead just after 11 a.m. after being called for a well-being check, according to a release from the police department.
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Attorney information for Pelzer was not listed.
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After an investigation, police issued an arrest warrant for Pelzer on March 10. Boston police officers arrested him on March 13 after he was involved in a “disturbance” at a hospital, according to prosecutors.
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He also has a warrant for his arrest out of Brooklyn in connection with a Jan. 23 knife assault, according to the district attorney’s office.
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He faces one count of murder and one count of fugitive from justice from New York, investigators say.
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Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden called the MacDonald’s killing “terrifying” in a statement.
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“… from this man surreptitiously entering a secured residential building, to his testing the doors on numerous units, and, ultimately, to his brutal killing of Mr. MacDonald and his remaining in the apartment with the body until the next morning,” the statement says. “This is a tragic reminder of how important it is to be alert to a non-resident attempting to slip into a locked building behind you.”
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Pelzer is being held without bail, according to the district attorney’s office.
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