An unexpected drop in the level of water in a town-owned water tank prompted automated notifications on Thursday to Lincoln residents about a water main break, but it turned out there was no break, and the cause of the sudden surge in water use was never found.

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Sudbury housing officials are trying to evict William Camuti, who has been charged in connection with the death of Stephen Rakes, from his Sudbury affordable-housing unit, and he has been investigated in the past by Sudbury police, the MetroWest Daily News reports.

[Read more…] about Sudbury trying to evict Camuti from town-owned affordable housing

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Lincoln Police Chief Kevin Mooney announced on Friday that William Camuti, 69, of Sudbury was arrested in connection with the death of Stephen Rakes, whose body was found off Mill Street in Lincoln on July 17.

Camuti pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, misleading police, and unlawful disposition of human remains. Although the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has not yet determined the cause of Rakes’ death, Ryan said at a press conference and a press release that Camuti, a longtime business associate of Rakes, poisoned Rakes by putting potassium potassium cyanide in his iced coffee on the afternoon of July 16 when the two men met in Waltham.

Rakes and Camuti were involved in various business deals and Camuti owed money to Rakes, an investigation by Lincoln Police and Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office revealed. Based on evidence gathered by investigators, Camuti and Rakes spoke by phone on July 16 and Camuti requested a meeting to discuss a potential investment property in Wilmington. However, the deal did not in fact exist.

Camuti and Rakes allegedly met around 1:45 p.m. at a McDonald’s in Waltham., where Camuti purchased two iced coffees and allegedly mixed one of them with two teaspoons of potassium cyanide. He gave the laced drink to the victim, who drank from it. Camuti then drove around Waltham, Woburn, Burlington and Lincoln for several hours with the victim in the vehicle and eventually dumped the body in the wooded area in Lincoln where it was found the next day.

Surveillance video showed Rakes leaving the Joseph Moakley Federal Courthouse the afternoon of July 16, where he had been regularly attending the racketeering trial of reputed gangster James “Whitey” Bulger. Rakes appeared to be wearing the same clothing when his body was found with no identification, keys or cell phone at 1:30 p.m. on July 17.

The poisoning was apparently unrelated to the Bulger case of reputed gangster Bulger, although Rakes’ body was found just one day after he learned he would not be called to testify, the Associated Press noted.

Friday’s Boston Globe said that according to a Lincoln Police Department report, Camuti told investigators in two separate interviews that he met with Rakes in the parking lot of the McDonald’s to discuss a potential real estate deal, but that he left directly after the meeting and did not see Rakes again. However, the GPS from Camuti’s car showed that on the night of July 16, he drove to the area of 90 Mill St. in Lincoln, “where he disposed of the body,” the police report said. Lincoln police and State Police executed a series of search warrants for Camuti’s home, vehicle, cellphone, and car GPS unit, according to the Globe article about the police report.

At Friday’s press conference, Ryan said there was evidence Camuti had sought information online about acquiring cyanide, the Globe reported.

The incident remains under investigation by Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office and the Lincoln Police. Officials are still awaiting the results of toxicology tests from the autopsy on Rakes. Camuti will probably be charged with murder if the tests show that Rakes died of cyanide poisoning.

Potassium cyanide resembles sugar and dissolves easily in water, according to Wikipedia. When inhaled, cyanide can cause death in minutes, but when ingested, the time elapsed before death depends on factors including dosage and the acidity and amount of food in the victim’s stomach. Ingesting cyanide causes nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and irritation or corrosion of the lining of the esophagus and stomach, followed by headache, confusion, anxiety, dizziness, weakness, difficulty breathing and loss of consciousness, coma and death, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control

A section of Weston Road near Moccasin Hill Road was closed for about an hour on Friday night (August 2) when an appliance delivery truck rolled down the driveway at 172 Weston Road and got wedged into a utility pole on the opposite side of the road.

The truck was unable to back up the sloped driveway under its own power and had to be winched free by Waltham Towing, according to Lincoln Police Sgt. Paul Westlund. There were no injuries and the pole was not damaged, he said.

Steven Rakes, whose body was found in Lincoln on July 17, may have been poisoned, according to a report by Fox-25 News in Boston.

[Read more…] about Rakes may have been poisoned; how body got to Lincoln still unknown

The  MBTA commuter rail Lincoln stop, which was expected to be closed on weekends through November, will now be available until September 7.

The weekend service suspension between Fitchburg and South Acton that  began in June will  continue through August 24, with full Saturday/Sunday service over the Labor Day weekend.. However, new efficiencies in the construction  schedule will allow for weekend service  to be maintained between North Station and South Acton through Labor Day Weekend.

Starting on September 7, the work will extend to Brandeis/Roberts, which means the South Acton, West Concord, Concord, Lincoln, and Kendal Green stations will be closed from September 7 to November 17. Trains between Brandeis/Roberts and North Station will operate on the normal weekend schedule. Weekday service is not affected.

For more information, see the MBTA project website, email FitchburgProject@MBTA.com, or call the MBTA Fitchburg Project Hotline at 617-721-7506.