Kenneth Benton

Kenneth Benton testified for the prosecution on Day 39 about organizing a search at Crapo Landfill and recovering a backpack associated with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The FBI special agent described locating the relevant trash beneath later loads and cover material. On April 26, 2013, around 2 p.m., he recovered a JanSport backpack containing the defendant's university paperwork. After seeing a crushed canister with what appeared to be a fireworks pattern, he stopped inspecting, sought a bomb technician's assistance, and transferred the backpack to Agent Fife for inventory. The court admitted the backpack, thumb drive, fireworks, and seven photographs.

Benton distinguished his initial observations from the later inventory: he initially saw one canister, did not see the thumb drive, and saw all the fireworks later. Cross-examination developed the limits of what his recovery account could establish about the contents' earlier condition. He confirmed that trash had been compacted and covered, rain had fallen on April 23 and 24, and a bulldozer and excavator had moved trash before the search. He had not observed the contents before disposal and did not know whether compaction occurred before transport.

Benton said he later learned that a friend had removed the backpack from Tsarnaev's dorm room and discarded it in a black plastic bag in a compactor near 63A Carriage Drive in New Bedford. He placed disposal on either Thursday night or Friday, rather than confirming April 19 alone. On redirect, he identified the friend as Dias and confirmed that he learned about the collection of the belongings later. His testimony linked the recovered backpack to the defendant but did not establish how the fireworks had been used.