Watertown Man Who Found Boston Marathon Bomber In His Boat Dies
WATERTOWN (CBS) - The man who became a hero after finding Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in his backyard in 2013 has died.
Dave Henneberry lived on Franklin Street in Watertown. On April 19, 2013, Boston and the surrounding areas had been shut down while police searched for Tsarnaev.
Just moments after authorities lifted the shelter-in-place order, Henneberry walked into his backyard and came face-to-face with Tsarnaev, who had been hiding in his boat, The Slipaway II.
So Henneberry called 911.
Here is a transcript of that call, which ended the 100-hour-long manhunt.
Henneberry: "I have a boat in my yard. There's blood all over the inside. There's a person in the boat."
911 Operator: "Are you sure?"
Henneberry: "I just looked in the boat."
911 Operator: "OK. Stay on the phone. Are you in the house? Stay in the house."
Henneberry: "I just looked in it and I found something on the outside and I got nervous. And I looked in and I saw blood all over the floor of the boat and there's a body in the boat."
911 Operator: "Stay where you are."
Henneberry: "He's in the boat laying the floor. Climb up the ladder you can open the hatch. He's in the boat."
911 Operator: "Is he alive?"
Henneberry: "I don't know!"
The call ended with Henneberry calmly telling the operator police were there.
Tsarnaev was taken into custody later that night. He was convicted and sentenced to death for his role in the 2013 bombings, which killed three people.
In an instant, Henneberry went from being an ordinary citizen to the man who stopped the infamous lockdown and one of the most intense manhunts in greater Boston history.
"If he didn't do what he did, who knows what would've happened," said retired Watertown Police Chief Ed Deveau. "The search would have went on, he could have gotten away, so Dave deserves a lot of credit for what he did."
His neighbors are heartbroken. "People would drive by and stop in front of the house all the time as if it were a tourist attraction, but to us he was just the guy that we love," said Lori Toye.
Dave Henneberry was later asked to be an extra in the marathon bombing movie "Patriots Day."
"Here I was and little did I expect to be in the movie with a talking part to Mark Wahlberg," he said in December 2016.
Henneberry didn't play himself, he took on the role of a neighbor. He was proud of how he is portrayed in the movie.
"Makes me feel good. I'll be represented good anyhow, the scene in the backyard," he told WBZ-TV.
Henneberry died Wednesday. He was 70 years old.
He leaves two stepchildren, three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Ben Parker reports
