A Cambridge man has been arrested in connection with the death of his 73-year-old uncle, whose body was found in a Broadway apartment late last night, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Haas said Tuesday night.
Harold Antoine Maxwell, 34, was arrested Tuesday evening without incident, police said, and is scheduled to be arraigned in Cambridge District Court at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
At about 11:50 p.m. Monday, police officers responded to an apartment at 243 Broadway and found its resident, 73-year-old Jesse Maxwell, severely injured. He was later pronounced dead.
Jesse Maxwell has been identified as a vendor for the Spare Change newspaper, which homeless and low-income people are meant to buy and resell at a higher price to make money. His building is affordable housing owned by the Just-A-Start nonprofit.
“Jesse was a vendor here for a long time,” said James Shearer, a board member for the Homeless Empowerment Project, the nonprofit that publishes Spare Change News. “He was a great person and a good friend. His customers and all of us here at Spare Change loved him, and we will miss him deeply.”
A Harold Maxwell graduated in 1999 from Cambridge Rindge & Latin School. In 2007, a Harold Maxwell was arrested and charged with two counts each of armed robbery and larceny from a person, along with two Belmont men. Harold Maxwell’s address at the time was given as 48 Willow St. On March 25 of this year, police arrested a Harold Maxwell at Putnam Gardens and charged him with assault with a dangerous weapon – a knife – and assault and battery. He was identified as homeless.
Cambridge Police and Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office investigated, and an autopsy was conducted by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The cause of death was found to be injuries to the head and compression of the neck, and the manner of death was homicide.
In light of this tragedy, said Vincent Flanagan, executive director of the Homeless Empowerment Project, the organization has decided to dedicate a previously scheduled fundraiser with local comedian Jimmy Tingle on Sunday to Jesse Maxwell’s memory.
Update on Nov. 27, 2013: Harold Maxwell was arraigned Wednesday in Cambridge District Court on a charge of murder in the first degree. Cambridge District Court Judge Roanne Sragow held him without bail until his next court date, a Dec. 19 probable cause hearing.
It is alleged that Maxwell beat the victim inside his apartment, Ryan said, and evidence has linked him to the crime scene at the time the victim is believed to have been murdered.
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