In the early morning hours of August 10, 2014, a tragic and violent incident unfolded inside an Andrews Street home in Lowell, Massachusetts. Responding to a call for medical assistance at approximately 2:37 a.m., police discovered two brothers suffering from gunshot wounds. Keith Callahan, a 35-year-old male, was found deceased at the scene. His younger brother, 29-year-old Joseph Callahan, was rushed to Lowell General Hospital but succumbed to his injuries.
The double homicide of the brothers, one of whom was the son of a retired Lowell police sergeant, sent shockwaves through the community.
The investigation into the brutal killings pointed to a home invasion. Authorities learned that a man had entered the apartment and threatened a female occupant with a gun while demanding to see someone who was not present. A verbal exchange escalated into a physical altercation between the intruder and one of the brothers inside a bathroom. In the ensuing struggle, both Keith and Joseph were fatally shot. Neighbors reported hearing a barrage of bullets before calling for help. In the immediate aftermath, police released a sketch of a suspect described as an Asian man with a thin build, long goatee, and dark hair worn in a ponytail.
The investigation led police to Dara Poum, a man from Chelsea. A crucial piece of evidence was a cigarette butt left behind in the bathroom where the altercation occurred; DNA from it matched Poum's profile in a national database. Ten days after the murders, on August 20, 2014, Poum was arrested on an unrelated warrant. Further investigation uncovered more damning evidence. Authorities located sneakers Poum had hidden in a Chelsea residence, which were found to have Keith Callahan's blood on them. The murder weapon was discovered buried in a garden behind the home of his girlfriend's father, just two doors down from the crime scene. Ballistics tests confirmed it was the gun used to kill the Callahan brothers.
On September 25, 2019, after a thorough legal process, a Lowell Superior Court jury found Dara Poum guilty on two counts of first-degree murder. He was also convicted of armed home invasion and possession of a firearm without a license. The conviction brought a measure of justice to the family and friends of Keith and Joseph Callahan, closing a painful chapter that began with a violent intrusion and ended with the senseless loss of two lives.
