Newly opened police files are filling in the clock-by-clock story of MIT physicist Nuno Loureiro's December killing, laying out a lattice of surveillance clips, a rental-car trail and witness accounts that investigators say helped chart a suspect's movements. The documents trace a path from Boston to Brookline and, later, to a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, where authorities found a man dead. Local officials say the material still does not answer the big question of motive, but it does lock in concrete details in a case that rattled two campuses.
What the reports show
According to documents obtained by the Boston Herald, surveillance stills show a gray-or-blue newer-model Nissan near Loureiro's Brookline building starting around 7 p.m. The same car is later seen rolling down Brighton Avenue with its lights off and is spotted in Waltham at about 9 p.m. The reports also recount a neighbor's daughter telling police she saw a man in a yellow vest carrying a cardboard box, then heard gunshots, and that responding officers recovered six shell casings in the foyer. Investigators say the files include additional footage they flagged as showing the suspect on Commonwealth Avenue at about 1:30 p.m. on the day of the Brown attack.
Investigators tie the Brookline slaying to Brown suspect
Federal and local authorities say the person they later identified as the Brown University shooter, Claudio Neves Valente, is believed to have killed Loureiro days after the campus attack that left two students dead and nine wounded. They say Valente was later found deceased inside a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire. An FBI agent filed an affidavit on Dec. 18 laying out surveillance and movements that investigators say helped connect the car and a series of sightings to the suspect, according to the AP.
How investigators pieced the trail
U.S. Attorney Leah Foley told reporters that investigators tracked a rental car from an Alamo location near Logan, used Flock license-plate cameras and pulled hotel and financial records to link the vehicle to a person of interest. Foley said video captured a figure within a half-mile of the professor's residence and later entering an apartment building nearby, details she said helped steer detectives toward the Salem storage facility, according to NBC Boston.
Neighbors and colleagues remember Loureiro
Colleagues and students recall Loureiro as a warm, generous mentor who led MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center and was widely respected across the department. Friends described him as "very well liked" and a deeply committed teacher, early local coverage noted, according to Boston.com.
Why the files surfaced now
The batch of incident reports was turned over to the Boston Herald after an initial denial by the Norfolk County district attorney's office, the paper reports, giving the public a clearer window into the investigators' timeline. Foley has said authorities will release more information if and when it becomes available, per NBC Boston.
Legal and investigative next steps
Because officials say the identified suspect died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound in the Salem storage unit, prosecutors have said there will be no criminal trial, even as evidence processing and ballistics testing continue. An autopsy estimated the suspect died on Dec. 16, two days before his body was found, according to the AP. Investigators say questions about motive and planning remain open as they sift through the files.
Sorting that material will take time, and local leaders say the community is focused on supporting victims' families and honoring Loureiro's work. Authorities continue to review footage and records as they work to close the remaining gaps in the timeline.
