Tsarnaev 'Participated' in Triple Murder: Dead Friend

Ibragim Todashev made statement just before he was shot: documents
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 23, 2013 7:02 AM CDT
Updated Oct 23, 2013 7:57 AM CDT
Tsarnaev 'Participated' in Triple Murder: Dead Friend
This May 4, 2013 file police mug provided by the Orange County Corrections Department in Orlando, Fla., shows Ibragim Todashev after his arrest for aggravated battery in Orlando.   (AP Photo/Orange County Corrections Department, File)

Before he was killed by the FBI in a bizarre incident, Ibragim Todashev told agents that his friend Tamerlan Tsarnaev was indeed linked to a 2011 triple murder, according to papers filed by federal prosecutors in a Boston court on Monday. "According to Todashev, Tamerlan Tsarnaev participated in the Waltham triple homicide," the motion reads. Authorities have been investigating Tsarnaev's connection to the killings for a while, and various media outlets reported in May that just before he was killed, Todashev had admitted to helping Tsarnaev kill the men.

But this is the first official statement connecting Tsarnaev to the triple murder, MyFox Boston reports. The motion was filed because prosecutors want to block Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's lawyers from getting documents related to Tamerlan's alleged role in the murders, the Boston Herald reports. "Disclosure of the details of that investigation could jeopardize it," the filing reads. MyFoxBoston points out that "it's clear from court records" that the defense would like to incorporate the information into the case it's likely making against the death penalty for Dzhokhar. Click for background on the horrific murders. (More Ibragim Todashev stories.)

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