The Murder of Lena Bruce (Massachusetts)

Lena Bruce had a bright future ahead of her. She’d just graduated from a top university and landed a great job, and she was settling into a new apartment in the heart of Boston’s South End neighborhood, already living the life she’d worked for since she was a child. But one night in the summer of 1992, an assailant altered the course of Lena’s dreams and stole that bright future from her.

That assailant thought he’d gotten away with it…But there’s no hiding from DNA evidence. It took more than two decades, but justice finally landed, and now there’s one less case left unsolved in New England.

July 12, 1992

It was the evening of July 10th, 1992 and 21-year old Lena Bruce was just seeing her roommate Barbara off for the weekend from the steps of their stately brownstone at 694 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston’s South End neighborhood. They’d moved into the first floor apartment in the bow-front building just a few weeks earlier and Lena absolutely loved that apartment; it was her first place after graduating from Tufts University and beginning her career as an electrical engineer. Lena had worked her whole life to reach that goal, and the apartment was where her future was supposed to take shape.

Barbara was headed to Philadelphia that weekend and Lena was supposed to go with her but she changed her mind at the last minute. Philly was her home town, and she was planning to attend a Greek festival of Black fraternities and sororities with Barbara, but decided to stay back in Boston instead. According to reporting by L. Kim Tan for the Boston Herald, Lena had just received one of her first paychecks so she wanted to do a little furniture shopping. They didn’t speak again after Barbara left. She’d only be gone a few days and they’d see each other again on Sunday.

But when Barbara returned on the evening of July 12th around 8 p.m. and stepped back into the apartment, it looked like the place had been turned upside down and shaken. Court records show there were empty soda cans, a beer bottle, empty glasses and half-eaten fruit scattered around, and the answering machine was inexplicably missing. The intercom system used to buzz in visitors at the front door was also ripped from the wall where it was supposed to be hanging.

It looked like someone had ransacked the place, but how they got in and out wasn’t immediately obvious to Barbara because the door to the apartment had been locked when she got home. But then she saw it: A window in her own bedroom that lead onto a fire escape and down into the back alleyway was open, with the grate that usually covered it unlocked.

Barbara called out for Lena and knocked on her bedroom but no one responded so she opened the door and peeked inside. There was Lena, lying face down on her bed, and she was nude from the waist down. Like the rest of the apartment, Lena’s room was torn apart, too.

Barbara ran out of the apartment, afraid but also unsure of what she just found. A friend who had driven her to Philly that weekend was thankfully still parked at the curb, waiting to pull into traffic. Barbara asked the friend to come inside and help her figure out what was wrong with Lena.

Together, they stepped back into Lena’s room and realized that Lena was not only partially disrobed, but also bound with her hands behind her back. Her skin was ashen and there was no sign of life.

Barbara and her friend sprinted down the street to a neighborhood bar to call police. Once the call had been placed and police were on their way, the pair doubled back to the apartment and flagged down a Boston University Police Officer nearby. He accompanied the women back inside, and a Boston Police Officer arrived moments later. The officers checked Lena’s pulse, but her heart was no longer beating.

Soon, Boston Police were unfurling the yellow crime scene tape. Someone killed Lena. The apartment that was supposed to be the beginning of a bright future was now being processed for evidence and clues as to who would do something so horrible to a woman so loved.

About Lena Bruce

Lena Delores Bruce dreamed of a better, bigger life for herself and her loved ones than the circumstances she grew up in. And she proved over and over again that the dream was within her grasp thanks to her self-motivation, hard work, and determination. 

When Lena graduated in 1988 from Cecilian Academy in Pennsylvania, she’d collected numerous awards and recognitions for her achievements while in school. Terence Samuel, Karen Quinones Miller and Howard Goodman report for The Philadelphia Inquirer that Lena had perfect attendance for all four years of high school.

Not only was she a star student, earning an award for academic excellence, Lena was extremely well-rounded. She was a member of the glee club and student council. She joined the dance club and pep club and even pursued a summer education program at Carnegie-Mellon University for students gifted in science and math.

One teacher at Lena’s high school stated that it might sound incredible, but Lena was the best student she ever had the pleasure of teaching in her 40 year teaching career.

The bright star that Lena was, it was no surprise that she had her choice of top colleges. She accepted a scholarship to attend Tufts University. According to reporting by Peter Gelzinis for the Boston Herald, Lena graduated in 1992 as the only Black woman in her class to earn a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. Entering the field of engineering had been Lena’s plan since elementary school. She set her goals very high, and always had a well-laid plan to support those goals.

It was a tough job market after graduation, but by all accounts, Lena was a highly sought after candidate for the multiple career opportunities in front of her. She was aggressively recruited, and when she went in for an interview at an engineering firm called Stone & Webster, she was offered a job on the spot. She’d only worked there a couple of weeks, but her employer already spoke of Lena’s incredible potential and called her an outstanding individual.

With a promising career ahead, Lena had promised her mother, UnaVee Bruce, that one day she’d get her out of North Philadelphia and buy her a house away from the fear and instability of the city. Lena wanted to repay everything her mother had given her, both figuratively and literally. Throughout college, Lena’s mother would wire her $100 every other week. Lena always promised that as soon as she started making money, “it’ll be your turn to go to Western Union.” Sure enough, after receiving her second paycheck on the Friday before her death, Lena called her mother. There was a wire for $100 waiting for UnaVee.

When Lena told her friends about the apartment she’d found, she was cautioned about the neighborhood. At the time, the building was located across from what was described as a half-way house where people convicted of crimes were sometimes housed on supervised release.

Lena’s father, Robert Stephens, was told by some of the neighbors that Lena’s apartment was actually vacant for months before she and Barbara moved in, and it was previously the home of someone known to sell illegal drugs. As Robert understood it, customers and associates would come up the back fire escape and they knew how to open the windows from the outside.

But that fire escape – despite its allegedly nefarious past – was one of the things Lena liked about the apartment so much. That, and it was close to work.

According to reporting by John Ellement for the Boston Globe, Lena told her friend Lancelot that she wanted to be there in the South End specifically, despite its rough reputation. She felt she could make a difference in that community. Lena’s brother, Ian, said the same thing, “Even though she made it, she still didn’t want to forget where she came from.”

Making a difference in her community was something Lena had always been passionate about. Back home in North Philadelphia, Lena volunteered her time and gave her resources to support those in need. She was selfless and hard-working, kind and determined.

Even throughout college, Lena managed to balance school work while volunteering with senior citizens. She also worked with youth at the city’s juvenile detention center. During the summer before her senior year at Tufts, Lena turned down a paid internship in favor of continuing her volunteer work with troubled youth. That was Lena’s truest form: She possessed an authentic desire to help and care for others. Her friends and family said that if the person who did this to Lena was down on their luck and had broken in to take something of value from her, all they would’ve had to do is ask. Lena would’ve helped.

Lena’s family learned of her death around midnight that Sunday night, July 12th. Lena’s mother UnaVee was sleeping when the phone started ringing. Confused, she answered a call from an officer that she described as brusque. The officer first verified that Lena was her daughter and then told her Lena was dead and a homicide investigation was underway. UnaVee asked for more information, an explanation, anything, but then an operator cut in. The officer had to answer another urgent call and so he told UnaVee he’d call her back.

According to reporting by Cheong Chow and John Ellement for the Boston Globe, the officer claimed he tried calling Lena’s family back for the next 45 minutes but they said they didn’t hear from him until an hour and a half after the initial call. At that time, he provided the number to the medical examiner’s office and advised them to call the ME with their questions. Boston PD later apologized for how the calls were handled.

After hanging up the phone, with limited information, a pit of dread, and a degree of doubt and bewilderment, Lena’s father, brothers, and a few friends got in the car to get to Boston as fast as they safely could hoping that the officer was mistaken; that Lena was safe, and this was all a huge mistake. But reality struck heavy and hard as they pulled up to Lena’s apartment to find it draped in yellow tape.

Lena Bruce’s story continues on Dark Downeast. Press play to hear the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.