This American Life, Boston Magazine Raise Questions on FBI Investigation of Marathon Bombings

This American Life had a riveting story to tell this week, thanks to reporter Susan Zalkind.

Last May, a weird story made the news: the FBI killed a guy in Florida who was loosely linked to the Boston Marathon bombings. He was shot seven times in his living room by a federal agent. What really happened? Why was the FBI even in that room with him? A reporter spent six months looking into it, and she found that the FBI was doing a bunch of things that never made the news.

In 2011, in Waltham, three men were killed in an apartment. Money was left there ($5,000), and there was marijuana spread over their bodies. Their throats were cut.



The FBI now believes these murders were committed by Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who would be a suspect in the marathon bombing if he was still alive, and Ibragim Todashev, a man killed in his own apartment, by FBI agents.

Allegedly, Todashev lost his temper and attacked agents who were questioning him. No one is even claiming he had a gun. One account says he had a broom. His father is quoted, asking whether the agents could have just wounded him.

The FBI says Todashev confessed to the Waltham murders.

So, to recap:

1. Both alleged perpetrators of the murders are dead.
2. One was about to confess, but there is no record of that.
3. One of the few known associates of Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in the course of the investigation of the bombings.

The Boston story is here.

"The individual is handicapped by coming face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists.” -- Legendary FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover (pictured)