Law&Crime Sidebar - 8 Shocking Details Linking Brown University, MIT Killings

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

After an intense 5-day manhunt, authorities announced that the suspected Brown University shooter is also linked to the murder of an MIT professor just days later. The FBI says Claudio Neves Valente took his own life. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber and former FBI agent Colin L. Schmitt examine all the new details from law enforcement, including the suspect's surprising connection to the MIT professor, as well the sophisticated way he evaded authorities.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code SIDEBAR at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/sidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. An individual was identified as Claudio Nevis Valenti, date of birth, and he was a 48-year-old man. He was a brown student. He was a Portuguese national, and his last known address was in Miami, Florida. After an intense five-day manhunt, authorities say the suspected Brown University shooter is dead. And not only that, he is also responsible, according to them, for the killing of that MIT professor out in Massachusetts just days later. We have all the details from law enforcement as we try to make sense of this wild development and also ask, where does the investigation go from here?

Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. let me tell you something you think the crime stories that cover are scary wait until you hear what's happening with your personal data online your name your phone number your address it's all out there it's easy for anybody to find the good news our sponsor incogni helps you disappear online they track down where your personal information is being exposed like on search sites or old forum posts and they demand its removal look when i signed up they found over 50 databases

with my information and within days it all started coming down set up takes minutes you create an account authorize Incogni to do the rest. And with their new Unlimited Plans custom removals feature, you can submit specific links and a team of privacy experts will personally remove them. So if you care about protecting yourself online, and I hope that you do, take your privacy back with Incogny. Use code sidebar for 60% off an annual plan. We are 100% confident that this is our target and that this case is closed from a perspective of pursuing people involved. It was quite the night, Thursday night, with local state, federal authorities in Providence, Rhode Island, in Boston, Massachusetts, announcing that the suspect in the Brown

University shooting is dead. The shooting that took place on Saturday, December 13th, resulted in the deaths of two people, students, Ella Cook, Muhammad Aziz Murzokov, and wounded nine others. It has also been confirmed that the shooter, too, is responsible for the shooting of MIT professor Nuno Lurero, a professor of nuclear science and engineering and physics. He was killed two days later at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. There was initial reporting that suggested that the same person was responsible or connected to both of these incidents, and now you have authorities confirming this. The suspected shooter has been identified as 48-year-old Portuguese national Claudio Nevis Valenti.

He was found dead in a New Hampshire storage facility late Thursday night. It was a massive scene, law enforcement, weapons drawn. They stormed the facility, not knowing, by the way, whether or not Valente was armed or dangerous or if he was in there at all, the feds actually got a warrant for that storage unit because they believed it was linked to the suspect. And once they got inside, they found Valenti dead and is believed that he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. So when it comes to the details of how they found him and his movements, I want to get into that. So first we go to this Providence, Rhode Island press conference. Okay. It happened Thursday night. It was delayed for several hours.

And this is the initial explanation of how they found the suspected killer. This is from Providence Police Chief Oscar L. Perez, Jr. A person of interest was identified from that video footage. The person of interest was observed on Hope Street, turning onto Waterman Street, and that was one of the first videos that we released. We looked at video footages, and in the specific incident, it was actually a video that provided us with a description of a vehicle. That was corroborated through a tip that was received through the tip center.

That room was packed with detectives, agents receiving calls on a daily basis. We started early and left late. Then FLAC and the LPR was able to provide us with this description of this vehicle. A vehicle was picked up by FLAC, which led us to a car rental place in Massachusetts. Through that, the agents and their work as well were able to get us footage of this individual as well as a copy of the agreement which provided his real name. The video of that subject matched the description of that person of interest that this police department was desperate to put handcuffs on. And then also Thursday night, we had this

other press conference out of Massachusetts. We got more details from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Leah Foley, who basically said that this guy is connected to both tragedies at Brown University and the MIT professor's death. This evening at approximately 9 p.m., federal agents breached a storage locker in Salem, New Hampshire in search of Claudio Neves Valenti, a Portuguese national, we believed, shot and killed two Brown University students and an MIT professor in Brookline, Massachusetts. Nees-Volente studied at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, on an F-1 visa around 2000 to 2021. He eventually obtained legal permanent resident status.

Previously, he attended the same academic program as the MIT professor, Nuno Luriero, in Portugal, between 1995. and 2000. Although Neves Valenti appeared to reside in Florida, between November 26 and November 30 of this year, he rented a hotel room in Boston. On December 1st, he rented a great Nissan Centra with Florida plates from a car rental agency in Boston. That same day, he drove to the vicinity of Brown University, where his car was observed intermittently between December 1st and December 12th. On December 13th, Neves Valenti entered an auditorium on Brown University's campus during a study session and began shooting at students, killing Ella Cook and Mahomet Aziz Umar Zokov and injuring nine others. Between December 13th and December 14th,

Nees Valenti returned to Massachusetts. On December 15th, he murdered MIT professor Nuno Luriero at Luriero's home in Brookline, Massachusetts. At some point while he was in Massachusetts, he switched the plates on the Nissan Centra to an unregistered plate out of Maine. Immediately following Professor Luriero's murder, Nives Valenti drove to a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, where he had rented a storage unit in November of this year. Investigators identified the vehicle that he had rented in Boston. and then drove to rhode island and he was seen in the vehicle was seen outside of brown and there was security footage that see that showed a person who resembled him there was

online there was financial investigations that were going on in the background that linked him not only to that car but also to the hotels that he had rented and the cars the car that he he had used to not only drive to Rhode Island, but then back to Boston. And then there was a security footage that captured him within a half mile of the professor's residence in Brookline. There is a video footage of him entering an apartment building in the location of the professor's apartment. And then later that evening, he is seen about an hour later entering the storage unit,

wearing this same clothes that he had been seen wearing right after the murder. Now, something else that I have to expand onto. There are two major breakthroughs when it came to identifying the shooter. You have this Brown University custodian who apparently told investigators he saw this suspicious person wearing a mask, wearing the same kind of clothes as was seen in these release surveillance videos and photos, which we talked about on a previous sidebar, that this person walked with a limp. Investigators took a look at the footage from December 1st. They see this person.

Number two, Reddit. Some anonymous person posted on the Providence Reddit board that they saw the suspect walking in the area flagged that his vehicle was in the area as well. The Reddit post read, I'm being dead serious. The police need to look into a gray Nissan with Florida plates, possibly a rental. So authorities look at the footage. They apparently saw a car that was consistent with the Reddit user's description. the pieces come together. That car ends up being the same car that Nevis Valenti rented. And just to note, it turns out that a person may have been somebody who cross paths with the suspect.

You may have seen authority saying that they wanted to talk to this specific person who was, quote, in proximity to this person of interest, this suspect. There was also reporting that the suspect got into some sort of altercation with someone prior to the shootings ran away. And it is shocking his apparent connection to both crimes, right? Over the course of two days, authorities claim that the shooter opened fire in Brown University and then goes to Massachusetts and kills this professor. So this is what investigators have confirmed that Valenti had attended Brown for three semesters. He was this graduate student, studied physics. But at the time of the shooting, to be clear, he had reportedly no affiliation with the university.

Just this tie from about 25 years ago. He was only enrolled with Brown University from 2000 to 2001 and then withdrew in 2003. We learned that during the period of 1995 to 2000, Valenti had attended the same academic program as Larero, the MIT professor, who was killed. This was in Portugal. Now to be clear, no motive has been established. It's still really unclear why he would open fire at Brown University, what any ill will he may have had.

Again, what his connection is to this MIT professor, what ill will he might have had towards him. But you have a physics professor. You have Valenti who studied physics. have physics studies usually held in the Barrison-Hawley classrooms where the shooting took place. Brown University president, Christina Paxson, said it was safe to assume that this suspect, Valente, as a graduate student in physics, probably had been in that building before. And here's something else I got to mention. When you watched this Providence Presser with local state and federal authorities,

it wasn't just about the suspect. It wasn't just about explaining him and the circumstances of his death and tracking and all that. It was also a bit defensive. It was about defending themselves, it seems, explaining their actions because there has been a spotlight on them for the past few days. There has been a lot of questions about the length of the manhunt. Why was a different person of interest initially detained and then released? Did that delay the investigation?

The apparent lack of cameras in the university's building where the Brown shooting occurred. So what you're going to hear right now is this back and forth with President Paxton and also police chief Perez. Take a listen. There were no cameras in this building. And law enforcement, some that are standing up behind you, have said, if Brown had cameras in that part of the building, we would have gotten this guy. And it may have stopped the swirling action. Can you answer that question for me?

Well, I don't think we have said the locations of cameras at Brown. But there are little cameras in that building because why would they take it from a rental car? agency. We have 1,200 cameras at Brown. But not in that building. We have some in that building. It's a large complex. And I think what you would see is the video evidence in this case, from my perspective, I'm not a law enforcement agent, has been incredibly helpful. Yes, video played a big role in this case. The neighbor's video, the rental car video, but not the video from the building that he walked in freely before when he got in the confrontation. And when he came back, in decided to kill people. You didn't have cameras in that building. Just say it so we could give this over it. And my next question, will you put cameras in the building? Yeah. You know, I think we need to look back. We'll look at everything that is done, but I do not think a lack of cameras in that building had anything to do with what happened there. And we will go forward. If you hadn't focused on the wrong person of interest on day one, do you think

professor in Massachusetts could be alive? From the beginning, I've told you that these investigations is extremely, extremely complex and intense. And so we used every resource as soon as we responded to the call. I stated earlier, I'm proud of the men and women of this department. Yes, we did find somebody that we thought obviously was the person, but we continued on. We continued on investigating.

We continued on canvas in the areas. We continued on with video. And that's why we ended up where we're at now. And also have to mention this, there was this idea that Valenti was quite sophisticated in avoiding police. That Valenti not only obscured his appearance, but he reportedly used an untraceable phone, that he didn't use credit cards in his own name, that he apparently used European SIM cards, so it would be difficult to follow him, track him, that he possibly used a fake license plate, switched it out.

And by the way, authorities indicated no criminal record. They know of as a right now. They haven't been able to uncover one so far. This is a guy who originally was on a student visa, our understanding, but then in 2017, he apparently entered the United States through the diversity lottery immigrant visa program and was issued a green card. That's a program where apparently thousands of immigrants can come into the United States every year from places where there are lower rates of immigration. And I will tell you, in the wake of all this, United States Secretary of Homeland Security, Christy Nome announced that the administration is pausing the DVI program in the wake of all this. Now, a lot of these details have been confirmed through an unsealed federal complaint and an FBI affidavit, in a sense, it seems, to reassure the public that Valenti is the guy, that he's the one responsible,

that he has been identified, that he was acting alone, that he's now dead, but obviously there are still so many unanswered questions. And we wonder, will we ever get answers? Motive, planning, activities, anybody connected to him in any way. What has he been up to during the last few days? the investigation go from here? I mean, it's been reported that this is an ongoing investigation, and they have to test and analyze so much of the evidence that they found so far. For example, investigators reportedly recovered 44 spent 9mm shell casings, one unfired cartridge casing, and numerous projectiles and projectile fragments. There were also apparently 15 spent shell casings that were found in the Barrison Holly hallway, 29 spent casings in an auditorium.

investigators apparently found magazines too. So there seems to be a lot more that they need to look into and test. Okay, let me bring on right now, retired FBI agent Colin L. Schmidt, who's also the president, CEO of Kronos litigation experts. I've got to start here, Colin. Is this the typical profile? Is this who you would think would commit not only a shooting at Brown University, but essentially assassinating a MIT professor. It's such an weird change of events. All I can say on this one is it's so, wow, I mean, this is something where truth is stranger than fiction is this is an example of that because as the investigators go through, they're going to have to find some sort of catalyst for what happened at Brown. Not necessarily the MIT one, there seems to be some hypothesis coming out that there was some sort of dispute or he had some issue with the professor. but to go over to Brown and execute those children, frankly, it just doesn't make any sense.

Yeah, there's a lot of weird parts about this. And you're seeing a connection here, right? You're seeing this physics connection that he attended the same program at the same time with the physics professor. It's still not clear what their relationship would be. But there's also a, and again, it's has I said this before, there doesn't appear to be a criminal record at this point of time yet there's a level of sophistication that he was able to allude law enforcement?

Well, I don't necessarily think it was sophistication. I think there's an old saying in law enforcement. There's no such thing as a coincidence. But the fact that it's already been widely reported that Brown's video surveillance was lacking in terms of the rooms and what was going on. And then alluding law enforcement, I think it may have been just in this case a little bit of luck on his part, that his timing was good, that he was able to evade law enforcement. enforcement. But fortunately, you had the FBI and other law enforcement agencies get involved and

they were able to make that connection. Well, while they say, you know, the, the, the, the, European SIM cards, maybe the fake credit cards, the license plates switching it up, concealing his identity. They did apparently get a lot of photographs of him from that rental car place. So there just did seem to be something that slipped up and they were able to ultimately track him to the storage facility. Do you think that those were certain aspects that made him hard to detect? And I do wonder if they're looking into whether or not he had any help, although it doesn't seem that they're suggesting that anyone else was involved. Well, certainly those efforts on his part made it harder for him to detect, but when you have an army of very, very sophisticated law

enforcement officers and agents and agencies, they were able to kind of separate the wheat from the shaft and identify him and be able to lock him down and make the connection between the two violent crimes. So certainly there was intense. tent there because of all those things. And I just, once again, it was a good old-fashioned police work that we're able to identify this guy and, you know, stop his next crime because it appears he wasn't going to stop. What do they do to look more into him right now? Well, like we said, I think we've mentioned this on every single episode, social media is the

first step. And then they're going to interview all of his associates and family members. And I would expect if it hasn't happened already, there hasn't been a search warrant at the last place he lived. And they're just going to basically put together their timeline because you hit the nail on the head. Did he have help? Was there somebody assisting him and or was there somebody that was aware that he had this intent and didn't do anything to stop it?

Authority said they had his name the day before. Should they have released it sooner? Or do you think that could have endangered the investigation? I think it would have endangered the investigation because it sounds to me like they were putting the pieces together. and if they had done that, they would have tipped him off. And then law enforcement would have been walking into a confrontation with an armed suspect who knew they were coming. So it's possible that he had an intent to harm himself already.

And with that intent, he may have been waiting for law enforcement if they had identified him before, then his intent to harm himself may have also led to him harming law enforcement officers. Do you think the circumstances of his death are different or strange or unique? I mean, there are times you cover shootings like this and the suspects killed by law enforcement immediately or, like you said, there could be a situation where they harm themselves. This was interesting. You know, several days later found in this storage facility. Are you surprised by that? Not surprised by that? Given the fact that maybe, maybe he felt that the, you know, the, the heat was on him. Well, I'm not surprised. I think being found in a storage unit is unusual. Usually it's a hotel room or a car where these types of criminals are found. I think, though, there was a very high probability of him getting involved in some sort of violent action with law enforcement. So, unfortunately, this may have been the best possible outcome in terms of bringing him to justice, you know,

because I think that he was very heavily armed, and I would, I just shuddered to think about what would have happened to those cops when they were going in to get him. Do you have confidence that we will have answers to all of these questions about motive, planning, activities, conversations? Because there are cases, yeah, where we learn a little bit more about it. And then there's cases we don't. Like, I still don't even think we really understand the loss of Vegas shooting all these years later. So a couple of questions I have for you. A, do you feel confident that they're going to do a thorough investigation? B, what is that that look like? Do they prepare a report? Do they hold a press conference at the end of the day?

Who takes the lead? And I guess C, do you think we're going to get answers? A, they are going to do a thorough investigation because they have to determine if there's anybody else involved. Because their number one priority at this point now is to determine if there is still a threat to the community. The B is, are we going to get all of our answers to our questions? Absolutely not. I don't think that ever will happen because the social media world. there'll always be more questions and there'll always be conspiracy theories. And in terms of them releasing information to the public, yes, I think at some point they will say that he acted alone. He was the lone, a person involved and responsible for this. And then there's going to be some

sort of after action report, especially at Brown, to determine how they can harden up their security. Well, that goes now to the larger question. I mentioned this before. It seemed to me a big theme of that Providence, Rhode Island Press conference, was defending themselves after they had been in the spotlight for so long. Do you think that they are facing unfair criticism? Or do you think, you know, this was a five-day manhunt. He could have been caught sooner. This could have been prevented. What are your thoughts on it? When somebody's life is lost, there's no such thing as unfair criticism, especially in a case like this. It is what it is. And unfortunately, the people in charge have to stand up there and take the fire, so to speak, because children, these are kids that were killed

and they were killed on a college campus. And there was certainly some sort of expectation that there should have been some level of security there. And they may have been there. We don't know the whole story and how secure that facility was. And your description of them having that press conference or seeing it where they were defending themselves, that's a normal human reaction. However, like I said, it is what it is. You're going to be criticized whenever there's a situation like this, and any criticism is fair because people died. By the way, Colin, how does testing work with forensics, right? The ballistic testing, DNA testing, because that's all going to be happening now behind the scenes, right?

How does that work? Well, they have to have something to test, first of all. So obviously the firearms, it's likely they'll go to the FBI lab, depending on which is the best lab, either that lab or the lab in Rhode Island. And then if there is any other things to test in terms of DNA, to make sure that he was the only one that interacted with instruments of the crime. And then they'll probably take a look at him, his body, as well, to see what kind of trauma may have sparked this madness. Because now since he has passed, the number one objective is, okay, what can we do in terms of government agencies to make sure this never happens again? A lot of questions. A lot of questions. I'm hoping we get the answers. very strange development. Colin L. Schmidt, thank you so much, really appreciate it. And let me just

say this. At the end of the day, we talk so much about the suspect. We talk so much about the investigation, which we should, but we can't forget the victims. We can't forget the people who died. We can't forget the people who were harmed, who were wounded, the families who have been affected because they need answers to as to what happened here. So Colin L Schmidt, thank you so much for taking the time. Really appreciate it. Thank you. Appreciate it. And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcast. You can follow me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.

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