Dugan Arnett

Rakesh “Rick” Kamal’s veneer of wealth was an astonishing ruse, orchestrated so stealthily, family members said, that its mastermind managed to conceal it from colleagues, realtors, and even his own wife and daughter.

The Harvard morgue scandal revealed a community of oddities collectors.

The story about an alleged drug trafficker, a detective, and a woman caught in the middle, seemed outlandish. Now, though, New Bedford police are acknowledging the claims have merit.

Federal and state court documents, as well as interviews, lay out the unlikely origins of a grisly case that led investigators from small-town Pennsylvania to an Arkansas morgue to Harvard Medical School.

With a massive investigation at stake, her allegations have sent shockwaves through New Bedford’s police department, courthouses, and jail cells.

Ana Walshe told Metropolitan Police in Washington, D.C., that a man threatened her during a telephone call and said “he was going to kill (her) and her friend,” according to a police report.

“Talk of the neighborhood?” said Shannon Dunican, who lives next door to the home raided weeks ago by federal agents. “It’s the talk of the town.”

A New Hampshire man was taken into custody after a car stop in Connecticut.

The brazen robbery has captured the imagination of an island better known as a swanky sandbox for the rich and powerful. It is also a reminder of a larger tradition in Massachusetts, site of some of the most notorious bank robberies in recent US history.

The frank messages offer a disturbing glimpse into the final months of Elijah’s short and turbulent life.