Police say 2 killed in apparent murder suicide in elevator blast

March 14, 2007

LYNN, Mass. --Authorities responding to an explosion in the first-floor elevator of a downtown office building found the bodies of a man and woman inside, and police are investigating it as a murder-suicide.

Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said the deaths appeared to be a "domestic violence situation by use of an incendiary device."

Blodgett said investigators were working to confirm the identities of the victims and their relationship, and were investigating a car left near the scene to see if if may have been booby-trapped. He identified the owner of the car as Raymond Echevairria, 23.

Witnesses said the man pulled the woman into the elevator, the Daily Item of Lynn reported.

Police said there was an explosion inside the elevator, engulfing it in flames, shortly after. Firefighters who arrived at about 2:30 p.m. extinguished the blaze and found the bodies.

The blast shook the three-story building at 150 Market St., said Sam Gonzales, who was in a dentist's chair on first floor. "The ceiling started coming down so we got out," he told the Daily Item of Lynn.

Two people were taken to local hospitals for minor injuries, Lynn police said.

"This is a domestic violence situation -- once again we have an ugly specter of domestic violence here in Massachusetts," Blodgett said.

Police would not identify the victims.

The Daily Item said court records showed a restraining order had been issued against Echevairria on Jan. 8 after his girlfriend, who worked in the office building, alleged he kidnapped her at knifepoint. She had the restraining order lifted on Jan. 16. Blodgett told the newspaper Echevairria was scheduled to appear in court on the kidnapping charges on April 17.

boston.com