More Details Emerge in Waltham Murders, Former Watertown Resident Tied to Case

While authorities have reportedly pinned the murders of three men in a Waltham home on two Chechen men, the case remains an active investigation as additional details emerge.

“The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office continues its open and active investigation into the triple homicide that occurred in Waltham in 2011, working closely with the Massachusetts State Police, Waltham Police and the FBI,” a statement from the DA’s office reads. "This investigation has not concluded and is by no means closed.”

The DA’s office also said it cannot comment on any details, citing rules of conduct for prosecutors.

The DA’s comments come one day after authorities told several news outlets that Ibragim Todashev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who were friends, committed the murders as a drug theft. Tsarnaev, who is accused of bombing the Boston Marathon, was killed in an April 19 shootout with police in Watertown.

Todashev was killed during a confrontation with Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents in Orlando, FL, on May 22. Todashev attacked an agent with a knife right before he was set to sign a confession implicating himself and Tsarnaev in the Waltham murders.

However, several new details emerged in a WGBH radio report.

• Investigators have questioned a woman in Virginia identified as Hilda Eltilib. Elitilib was a girlfriend of one of the victims, Brendan Mess. Mess was friends with Tsarnaev.
• Elitilib’s name was on the lease for the home of the murder scene. She found the bodies on Sept. 12, 2011.
• One Waltham Police detective is working with State Police on the case, Acting Waltham Police Chief Keith Macpherson told WGBH.
• The DA’s office believes the killers could have taken a “substantial amount” of money from the scene, but left $5,000 there to "confuse" police.
• Investigators have matched DNA evidence from Mess’s Mercedes Benz to one or both of the Marathon bombers, which means either Tsarnaev or his brother Dzhokar. 
• DNA samples have been sent to the FBI lab for testing.
• Immediately after the murders, relatives of the victims reportedly pushed Waltham Police to look into Tamerlan’s possible role. WGBH reports it’s not clear whether that happened. 

Also, Todashev's wife and friend told the Boston Globe that neither she nor him had been questioned about the Waltham murders prior to Todashev's death. Todashev's father told the Globe his son never todl him fo any role in the Waltham murders. He also claimed authorities killed his son and "made up" the reason for the killing.

TODASHEV'S BACKGROUND 

Todashev lived in Watertown last year, according to the Washington Post. The second child of 12, Todashev moved to the United States from the Russian region of Chechnya about five or six years ago to learn English, and stayed because it was “the safest country,” his father Abdul-Baki Todazhev told the Post.

He got into mixed martial arts, and Muslin Chapkhanov, one of Todashev’s roommates, told the Post that Todashev “was living in Boston and I think he trained with (Tamerlan Tsarnaev).”

Todashev gave up mixed martial arts after an injury, his father said, and he held some jobs including as a driver for a retirement home, the Post reported. He moved to Florida within the past year.

A former roommate of Todashev’s, Khusen Taramov, said that he was surprised the interview Wednesday ended with Todashev allegedly attacking an agent. He told the Post that Todashev had shared details of his interview with the FBI the day before he died and said he had cooperated with authorities.

“He told them everything,” Taramov said. “He told everything he knew. ... I don’t know why that (the shooting) happened. It’s crazy,” Taramov told the Post.

Todashev has had previous encounters with police before. He faced charges of aggravated battery in Florida for allegedly getting into a fight with a father and son over a parking spot.

In 2010, he was arrested by Boston Police, the Post reported, after a road rage incident. He allegedly got into an argument with two other drivers and cut them off wit his vehicle.

The Post reported that a police report showed during the incident Todashev yelled, “You say something about my mother, I will kill you.”