Slain Boston Bomber Carried Out 9/11 Triple Murder of Jews, Prosecutors Say
Tamerlan Tsarnaev Image by getty images
Jewish Victim: Erik Weissman was murdered on Sept. 11, 2011, along with another Jewish man and a third victim described as Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev?s best friend.
Slain Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev took part in a 2011 triple murder — including two Jewish victims — in a nearby suburb, according to a Chechen immigrant who was himself killed when approached by investigators for questioning, federal prosecutors said on Monday in newly filed court papers.
Ibragim Todashev, 27, who has been identified as an acquaintance of Tsarnaev from their days as mixed martial-arts fighters in Boston, told investigators Tsarnaev participated in the murders of three men found stabbed to death in September 2011 in an apartment in Waltham, Massachusetts, according to the filing.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev Image by getty images
The three victims in the 2011 murder were Brendan H. Mess, 25, Erik Weissman, 31, and Rafael M. Teken, 37. Weissman, a friend of Tsarnaev, and Teken, a Brandeis University graduate, were both Jewish.
The crime took place on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, raising the possibility that the slayings were related in part to Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s descent into radical Islam.
Media had previously reported that one of the victims was a close friend of Tsarnaev and authorities believe the killings were drug related.
The FBI has said Todashev was shot and killed by a federal agent about a month after the marathon bombings when he suddenly turned violent while being questioned about possible links to Tsarnaev.
The latest disclosure about Tsarnaev came in a 23-page brief arguing against a motion by lawyers for his younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is in custody on federal charges related to the marathon bombing that carry the death penalty.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s lawyers are seeking to force the government to share with defense attorneys investigative materials pertaining to his deceased older brother, Tamerlan.
The two siblings, both ethnic Chechens, are suspected of planting two pressure-cooker bombs that detonated at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, killing three people and injuring 264 others.
After allegedly shooting a police officer to death in an ambush three days later, the pair went on to engage in a late-night gun battle with police in nearby Watertown that ended with Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, dead, and 20-year-old brother, Dzhokhar, escaping.
Police later captured the younger Tsarnaev after a daylong manhunt in which most of the Boston area was placed on a security lockdown.
Dzhokhar has since pleaded not guilty to charges related to the bombing and the policeman’s slaying.
Lawyers for the younger Tsarnaev have argued that information about the investigation of his older brother’s possible role in the Waltham murders might be a mitigating factor in the government’s case against Dzhokhar. But prosecutors said disclosure of the materials sought by his defense could jeopardize the continuing investigation into the triple homicide.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
