Triple Homicide: Dead Boston Bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev Suspect In 2011 Gruesome Slayings

In a document filed Monday as part of preparations for Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's trial, his older brother Tamerlan was formally linked to an earlier 2011 triple homicide in the Boston suburb of Waltham. The killings took place on September 11, 2011 -- the 10-year anniversary of the Al-Qaeda attacks on the United States, and the three bodies were found nearly decapitated, covered with marijuana and thousands of dollars in cash. In the document, prosecutors note that they told Dzhokhar that Ibragim Todashev implicated his brother. Todashev, a friend of the eldest Tsarnaev, was being interviewed by the FBI in his Florida apartment back in May, where he suddenly attacked the officers before "signing a statement" admitting to his own role in the triple murder. Authorities shot and killed him.

According to 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. The three men killed were Brendan Mess, Erik Weissman, and Raphael Teken, and it is being reported that Mess had once been a roommate and martial arts colleague of Tamerlan. "The government has already disclosed to Tsarnaev, that, according to Todashev, Tamerlan Tsarnaev participated in the Waltham triple homicide," the document says, on nearly the last page. It is a filing by the government to prevent Dzokhar Tsarnaev's lawyers from getting certain investigative documents from the government.

The court filing continued, "Any benefit to [Dzhokhar] Tsarnaev of knowing more about the precise 'nature and extent' of his brother's involvement does not outweigh the potential harm of exposing details of an ongoing investigation into an extremely serious crime, especially at this stage of the proceeding." According to the Los Angeles Times, Tsarnaev's lawyers are seeking any and all documents that prosecutors have compiled about the triple homicide, as well as government interviews with the Tsarnaevs' extended family and friends.

Meanwhile, the strange case of Ibragim Todashev continues to agitate civil rights groups. He was shot seven times, once in the head, and his father has spent the last five months demanding an explanation.