From the Headlines

BOSTON - One Roxbury man considers this past Friday the 13th to be his lucky day.

Thomas O’Brien, 34, stumbled upon a mysterious package near Downtown Crossing. O’Brien, who frequents the Red Line on his daily commute, regularly collects litter to keep the city clean. According to O’Brien, Friday started just like any other day.

“I’m used to [T] station being trashed, especially when college students return to the city,” O’Brien said. “So when I saw this box, I figured it was another piece of garbage for my Hefty bag.”

The box O’Brien found was not litter, but a neatly-tied package in brown wrapping paper. Inside was $500,000 in cash.

“I couldn’t believe it,” O’Brien said. “I thought I was hallucinating.”

The package contained no notes or identifying information pertaining to the intended recipient. The Boston Police Department is running the serial numbers on the bills through the U.S. Department of the Treasury database to verify if the money is reportedly linked to any crime.

If the serial numbers cleared, police are expected to return the money to O’Brien.

When asked what he would do with the $500,000 if he were able to keep it, O’Brien replied, “Probably buy a few trash compactors or something.”

BOSTON - A second mysterious package has appeared within city limits.

A massDOT employee discovered a medium-sized box while clearing a construction zone. The employee, who asked to remain anonymous, reportedly tripped over the box while collecting traffic barrels from the breakdown lane near the corner of Boylston Street and Dartmouth Street. The box was wrapped in brown paper and tied with twine. As with the box left near Downtown Crossing on Friday the 13th, this box contained also $500,000.

Upon seeing the contents of the box, the massDOT employee alerted his supervisor, who called Boston Police Precinct D-4. Boston Police responded to the scene and then turned the case over to the State Police. Calls to State Police General Headquarters in Framingham have been unanswered.

Per massDOT protocol, if the money remains unclaimed, it will be donated to Boston Children’s Hospital.

BOSTON - A mysterious package discovery has ended in tragedy.

Cara Cline, 20, originally of Manassas, Virginia, was killed late Thursday after opening a box left outside of her Boston College residence hall. The box—said to be wrapped in brown paper or newsprint and tied with string—contained an explosive that detonated when the wrapping was removed.

Cline reportedly asked, “You don’t think this is one of those money boxes?” before the blast. She was killed instantly.

Three bystanders were also injured in the explosion; two remain at Mass General Hospital in serious condition.

The State Police are investigating whether this incident is related to the other mystery packages found across the city.

BOSTON - The discovery of another mystery package has locked down the City of Boston. An anonymous tip led State Police and the National Guard to a packed parking lot in the North End. Due to the incident last week in Chestnut Hill, when Boston College undergrad Cara Cline was killed an explosion originating from a box the victim had found on the street, the bomb squad was called into to disarm any potential explosives.

The box, once deemed safe by personnel, was found to contain $499,999.

NEW YORK - The mysteries of Beantown have hit the Big Apple.

Broadway cancelled all shows Monday evening after an unknown package was found outside of the Gerswhin Theatre by a maintenance worker.

The New York Police Department immediately secured the entire block between 8th Avenue and Broadway, leaving New Yorkers in lockdown for three hours.

The box was determined not to be a threat. When asked if the box contained cash like the majority of the boxes found in Boston, Sergeant Joseph R. Plasse provided no comment.

NEW YORK - A second box was found in Manhattan, just two days after the first box was reported in the the Broadway theatre district.

Alanna Darling, 7, of Teaneck, New Jersey, opened a mysterious package she found on Pitt Street while her mother, Ellen Darling, chatted with a friend on the sidewalk.

“Alanna interrupted me,” Mrs. Darling said, “which I thought was quite rude… until I realized, of course, what she had found!”

The box contained $499,999 in legal U. S. tender.

Mrs. Darling called the New York Police Department to assist with the matter, which is currently under investigation.