Dead Bodies Found in Charles

Mass. State Police have pulled the dead bodies of two individuals—a 22-year-old woman and a man in his 40s—from the Charles River near the Boston University (BU) Bridge within the last four days.

The young woman, whose name has not yet been released by authorities, was found Sunday on the Boston side of the river.

Suffolk County prosecutors announced earlier this week that the woman had suffered multiple stab wounds and said they are calling the case a homicide.

The woman may have had ties to the Cambridge homeless community, said Mass. State Police spokesperson Lt. Paul Maloney.

The man’s body was discovered yesterday on the Cambridge side of the river. Middlesex County officials have yet to identify the man or determine his cause of death.

According to Maloney, investigators have no reason to link the cases, despite the fact that both bodies were found in the vicinity of the BU Bridge.

Maloney also said that other than remaining conscientious about avoiding dangerous behavior, it does not appear that Boston and Cambridge residents need to take special safety precautions in light of the discovery of the bodies.

“There’s no reason to say the incidents are linked or that the threat will spread,” Maloney said.

Harvard University Police Department spokesperson Peggy A. McNamara said there does not appear to be any reason for Harvard students to be worried, although the stabbing victim was of college age.

“There’s no reason to believe there is a potential threat,” McNamara said. “If there were a threat, the State Police would have contacted us to let us know—but they haven’t.”

Milena B. Yamaykina, a senior at MIT, said she was running on Storrow Drive around noon on Sunday when the first body—a “young-looking” woman sporting a blond ponytail and wearing athletic clothes—was pulled from the water.

“The cop uncovered the body’s face, because I think the other people covered her with a T-shirt, and I saw a scrape on her forehead and possibly blood near the chest area, but it was hard to tell because the woman had dark clothes on,” she wrote in an e-mail. “The girl’s body looked all stiff, and she was on her back and looked like a dead crow with her hands and arms up in the air.”

In March 1999, members of the Harvard freshman lightweight crew team discovered the body of a Newton man near the Arsenal Street Bridge during one of their regular morning practices.

That death, however, was ruled a suicide by investigators.

—Staff writer Alex B. Ginsberg can be reached at ginsberg@fas.harvard.edu.