MYSTERY AFOOT: Shoes Found In Hotel Draw FBI Attention

The Boston Herald ^ | November 27, 2003 | Jennifer Rosinski and Marie Szaniszlo

[johnny7]

The discovery of a mysterious stash of shoes with makeshift insoles in a bathroom ceiling at the Days Hotel in Brighton yesterday has raised enough eyebrows to draw the attention of the FBI, state and local police. ``We have been notified and are responding,'' said FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz.

Three hotel workers who removed the insoles in the basement of the Soldiers Field Road hotel were overcome with noxious fumes and experienced minor respiratory problems about 12:30 p.m., police said. The workers, along with a Boston police officer called to the scene, were treated and released from St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Boston EMS Director Richard Serino said. While authorities have not said the shoes and the unknown substance concealed in their insoles were of sinister origin, the discovery was made in the same hotel where two of the Sept. 11 terrorists had stayed.

Brothers Ahmed Al-Ghamdi and Hamza Al-Ghamdi had paid cash to stay in room 241 at the Days Hotel for three days prior to the fateful day they and eight other hijackers boarded two planes at Logan International Airport armed with box cutters. Police said the insoles were crafted from duct tape, clear plastic and an ``unknown brown grainy substance.'' Investigators could not say what the substance was last night. All five pairs of shoes were sent to the state police crime lab for testing, state police said.

The shoe discovery was reminiscent of convicted but thwarted shoebomber Richard C. Reid. The Muslim convert was tackled by flight attendants and passengers while trying to ignite his explosive-laden hiking boots aboard a Miami-bound flight from Paris. A hotel maintenance worker discovered the cache of shoes above the ceiling tiles in the bathroom of room 507 at 11:20 a.m., police said. ``He was looking for lost or misplaced tools,'' Boston police spokesman David Estrada said.

Two empty plastic bags were found alongside the two pairs of boots, two pairs of shoes and one pair of tennis sneakers, police said. ``All of the footwear contained makeshift insoles,'' Estrada said. The hotel's general manager, Mark Nickerson, said he has seen all sorts of items left behind in hotel rooms, ``but this is the first time I've noticed shoes, multiple pairs of them, in the ceiling tiles.'' He said police were called when none of the staff could figure out exactly what they had found.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

***ELVIS ALERT***

[Normal4me]

Why would the maintenance worker be looking for misplaced tools in an area he obviously hadn't done any work in?

[LikeLight]

Drug smuggling shoes? Explosive shoes? Anthrax shoes? Something smells . . .

[Thinkin' Gal]

Three hotel workers who removed the insoles in the basement of the Soldiers Field Road hotel were overcome with noxious fumes and experienced minor respiratory problems about 12:30 p.m., police said.

And...

Brothers Ahmed Al-Ghamdi and Hamza Al-Ghamdi had paid cash to stay in room 241 at the Days Hotel for three days prior to the fateful day they and eight other hijackers boarded two planes at Logan International Airport armed with box cutters. Police said the insoles were crafted from duct tape, clear plastic and an ``unknown brown grainy substance.''

Really bad hygiene alert. What a shock!

[Fresh Wind]

More likely he was retrieving the video camera he had hidden there to record activity in the bathroom.

[Ragirl]

wow, those Arab terrorists sure have stinky feet.

[leadpenny]

Coinkydink??

MBTA Train Evacuated - Several Commuters Experience Dizziness

[Smokin' Joe]

Can you say..."center fuel tank"?

[visualops]

Any hotel/motel that has a drop ceiling should routinely check for stashes. Knowing that the terrorists had stayed there, I am surprized and disappointed the police or FBI did not check the room more thoroughly way back when.
Sometimes investigators seem particularly ill-suited for their jobs.

[LikeLight]

I would be particularly interested to know if anyone who was on the passenger manifesto for Flight 587 or Flight 800 ever stayed in that room, or even that hotel.


And, even now, do you think the FBI (or anyone else) will bother to go and double-check the ceilings in any of the other hotel rooms known to have been used by the AQ 19?

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Paging Maxwell Smart!

[Smokin' Joe]

Probably not. I wonder how many folks of the AQ 19's ilk were on the manifest for TWA 800?

We will probably never get past the fuel tank fable, despite PETN discovered on fabric from the plane and dozens of witnesses who saw something a lot like a missile going up before the plane came down.

My take on 9/11 is that, finally, there is undeniable evidence of intent to harm Americans on their own soil, an event that could not be covered up or have the blame misdirected to agitate the mindless masses against the Right.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I am surprized and disappointed the police or FBI did not check the room more thoroughly way back when

Didn't say the stash was in room 241. I got a feeling, that if this turns out to be anything more than an apparent drug smuggling case, the whole building's going to get an FBI proctological exam.

[bert]

Used odor eaters?

[visualops]

You're right, the stash was found in room 507.
Still, that's such an obvious hiding place.

[RippleFire]

bump

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

Did I miss the part about what type of worker it was that found the shoes in the ceiling?

[Lockbar]

These must be for sale in the UK:

[manic4organic]

Calling Dr. Scholl's.