Federal prosecutors have disclosed publicly for the first time that they have information indicating deceased Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev "participated" in a September 2011 unsolved triple homicide.
The revelation comes in a court document filed in the case against surviving bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Tamerlan's younger brother. In the document, prosecutors note that they told Dzhokhar his dead brother was implicated in the triple murder by a friend, Ibragim Todashev.
Todashev was shot dead in his Florida apartment in May during an interview with the FBI and Massachusetts State Police. Sources with direct knowledge of the incident told ABC News shortly after the shooting that Todashev suddenly attacked the officers before he was "about to sign a statement" admitting to his own role in the triple murder.
According to the new court filing, before his death Todashev told investigators Tamerlan "participated" in the triple homicide in Waltham, Mass., in which three bodies were discovered naked with marijuana strewn across them on the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. The new court document did not elaborate on Tamerlan's alleged involvement.
Law enforcement officials told ABC News days before Todashev's death that there was "mounting evidence," bolstered by "forensic hits," that pointed to the possible involvement of both Tamerlan and Dzhokhar in the triple murder. One of the young men killed, Brendan Mess, had once been a roommate and martial arts colleague of Tamerlan's, officials said then. At the time, the officials cautioned that DNA testing was not complete and it was too early to bring an indictment against Dhzokhar.
State investigators who oversee the homicide case said they have an active and ongoing investigation into the triple murder.
The savage 2011 murders unfolded on a quiet dead-end street on a balmy night.
Mess and his friends, Erik Weissman, 31, and Raphael Teken, 37, had ordered dinner from Gerry's Italian Kitchen at 8:54 p.m., but when a delivery woman arrived twenty minutes later there was no answer at the door and no one answered a call to Weissman's cell phone, from which the order was placed.
The bodies were discovered the next day. Former Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said at the time that the murders were "graphic." Other investigators called it perplexing.
Roughly seven pounds of marijuana was dumped on the bodies and $5,000 in cash was left behind. Neighbors said they did not hear any signs of trouble – even with open windows – and there was no forced entry. In a 2011 interview, Leone said investigators theorized there had been more than one person at the scene of the murders based on "many factors," but no suspects were identified.
From there the case went cold, until photos of the Boston Marathon suspects were released and family and friends of the Waltham victims recognized them and remembered Tamerlan's strange behavior after the murders. He did not attend his friend's funeral and vanished from the martial arts gyms where the men had sparred together.
Then, Gerry's Italian Kitchen became a focal point again on April 24, nine days after the Marathon bombing, after investigators removed two Planet Aid charity donation bins from a parking lot it shares with a neighboring grocer. A driver had discovered discarded fireworks inside and law enforcement sources told ABC News the gunpowder had been removed from the cartridges.
It is unclear how the Tsarnaev brothers were associated with Gerry's Italian Kitchen, if at all, but looking back, multiple residents of Waltham and Watertown remember Tamerlan Tsarnaev delivering food to their homes and Tsarnaev family members have told reporters the brothers worked as pizza deliverymen. The eatery's management, however, steadfastly denied that either Tsarnaev brother worked there.
Scott Wood, a jiu jitsui trainer who befriended and trained Mess at a martial arts studio in Vermont, said he always believed whoever the killer or killers were, they got in Mess' home "under the guise of being a friend."
"Brendan was a tough, tough kid, a strong kid. It wouldn't have been easy to take him out like that," Wood told ABC News.
Wood and other friends met Tamerlan with Mess at a June 2011 fight event. Mess introduced Tamerlan as "Tam" but fighters also recognized him from his Golden Glove victories and called him "Champ." Tamerlan did not drink and was very quiet that night.
That was the last time Wood saw his friend alive.
As detectives probe the Waltham connections, Middlesex County prosecutors are also busy building a case against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in connection with the cold-blooded killing of MIT Police Officer Sean Collier after the Marathon bombings.
Collier was shot five times, allegedly by the Tsarnaev brothers, as he sat in his cruiser, just days before he would have become a Somerville Police Officer. Collier's murder will be prosecuted by state prosecutors while the Marathon bombing will be tried in federal court.
Collier's murder was followed by a carjacking that spawned a wild, high-speed chase that ended with bombs exploding and bullets flying on a street corner in Watertown. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was pronounced dead at Beth Israel Hospital later that night. His brother escaped but was found badly wounded in a Watertown man's boat blocks from the gun battle the following evening.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is being held in the infirmary at Fort Devens federal prison.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/mount...d-2011-triple-murder/story?id=19151271&page=2
The revelation comes in a court document filed in the case against surviving bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Tamerlan's younger brother. In the document, prosecutors note that they told Dzhokhar his dead brother was implicated in the triple murder by a friend, Ibragim Todashev.
Todashev was shot dead in his Florida apartment in May during an interview with the FBI and Massachusetts State Police. Sources with direct knowledge of the incident told ABC News shortly after the shooting that Todashev suddenly attacked the officers before he was "about to sign a statement" admitting to his own role in the triple murder.
According to the new court filing, before his death Todashev told investigators Tamerlan "participated" in the triple homicide in Waltham, Mass., in which three bodies were discovered naked with marijuana strewn across them on the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. The new court document did not elaborate on Tamerlan's alleged involvement.
Law enforcement officials told ABC News days before Todashev's death that there was "mounting evidence," bolstered by "forensic hits," that pointed to the possible involvement of both Tamerlan and Dzhokhar in the triple murder. One of the young men killed, Brendan Mess, had once been a roommate and martial arts colleague of Tamerlan's, officials said then. At the time, the officials cautioned that DNA testing was not complete and it was too early to bring an indictment against Dhzokhar.
State investigators who oversee the homicide case said they have an active and ongoing investigation into the triple murder.
The savage 2011 murders unfolded on a quiet dead-end street on a balmy night.
Mess and his friends, Erik Weissman, 31, and Raphael Teken, 37, had ordered dinner from Gerry's Italian Kitchen at 8:54 p.m., but when a delivery woman arrived twenty minutes later there was no answer at the door and no one answered a call to Weissman's cell phone, from which the order was placed.
The bodies were discovered the next day. Former Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said at the time that the murders were "graphic." Other investigators called it perplexing.
Roughly seven pounds of marijuana was dumped on the bodies and $5,000 in cash was left behind. Neighbors said they did not hear any signs of trouble – even with open windows – and there was no forced entry. In a 2011 interview, Leone said investigators theorized there had been more than one person at the scene of the murders based on "many factors," but no suspects were identified.
From there the case went cold, until photos of the Boston Marathon suspects were released and family and friends of the Waltham victims recognized them and remembered Tamerlan's strange behavior after the murders. He did not attend his friend's funeral and vanished from the martial arts gyms where the men had sparred together.
Then, Gerry's Italian Kitchen became a focal point again on April 24, nine days after the Marathon bombing, after investigators removed two Planet Aid charity donation bins from a parking lot it shares with a neighboring grocer. A driver had discovered discarded fireworks inside and law enforcement sources told ABC News the gunpowder had been removed from the cartridges.
It is unclear how the Tsarnaev brothers were associated with Gerry's Italian Kitchen, if at all, but looking back, multiple residents of Waltham and Watertown remember Tamerlan Tsarnaev delivering food to their homes and Tsarnaev family members have told reporters the brothers worked as pizza deliverymen. The eatery's management, however, steadfastly denied that either Tsarnaev brother worked there.
Scott Wood, a jiu jitsui trainer who befriended and trained Mess at a martial arts studio in Vermont, said he always believed whoever the killer or killers were, they got in Mess' home "under the guise of being a friend."
"Brendan was a tough, tough kid, a strong kid. It wouldn't have been easy to take him out like that," Wood told ABC News.
Wood and other friends met Tamerlan with Mess at a June 2011 fight event. Mess introduced Tamerlan as "Tam" but fighters also recognized him from his Golden Glove victories and called him "Champ." Tamerlan did not drink and was very quiet that night.
That was the last time Wood saw his friend alive.
As detectives probe the Waltham connections, Middlesex County prosecutors are also busy building a case against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in connection with the cold-blooded killing of MIT Police Officer Sean Collier after the Marathon bombings.
Collier was shot five times, allegedly by the Tsarnaev brothers, as he sat in his cruiser, just days before he would have become a Somerville Police Officer. Collier's murder will be prosecuted by state prosecutors while the Marathon bombing will be tried in federal court.
Collier's murder was followed by a carjacking that spawned a wild, high-speed chase that ended with bombs exploding and bullets flying on a street corner in Watertown. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was pronounced dead at Beth Israel Hospital later that night. His brother escaped but was found badly wounded in a Watertown man's boat blocks from the gun battle the following evening.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is being held in the infirmary at Fort Devens federal prison.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/mount...d-2011-triple-murder/story?id=19151271&page=2
Had a best friend named Eric as well who passed after living a life more lived @ 21 then most people do their WHOLE lives bro. He passed in a different way but still all too young regardless. Thanks for sharing your cherished memories of your boy. Lates bro.
