Massachusetts police are hoping the Boston Marathon explosions will lead to new clues in a triple homicide case that took place in Waltham Sept. 11, 2011.
Police say there may be a connection between the now deceased Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his friend who was brutally murdered on the 10 year anniversary of 9/11. The bombings revealed Tsarnaev's violent nature and may point to him as a suspect in the unsolved case, say authorities.
"We are looking at a possible connection with the suspect in the marathon atrocity and this active and open homicide in Waltham,'' said Stephanie Guyotte, a spokeswoman for the Middlesex County District Attorney, to ABC News.
The investigation has been active for more than a year, but authorities admitted that they are missing a strong lead. However, law enforcement sources say that this may change now that the bomb attack has prompted them to take a fresh look into the case.
Tsarnaev, the alleged bombing mastermind behind the attacks last Monday, died during a shootout with police early Friday morning. The 26-year-old suspect was an accomplished amateur boxer who began to train with one of the murder victims, 25-year-old Brendan Mess, in an attempt to possibily pursue a career in mixed-martial arts.
Tsarnaev and Mess lived relatively close to one another in a predominantly Russian neighborhood in Cambridge. Authorities believe there were times when Mess even slept at Tsarnaev's apartment and that Tsarnaev referred to Mess as his "best friend."
In 2011, Mess and two other people, Raphael Teken, 37, and Erik Weissman, 31, were found dead his apartment in the Waltham suburbs. Each of their throats had been slashed and their mutilated bodies were left bizarrely covered with marijuana. It was unclear if Tsarnaev knew the other men who were killed.
Law enforcement say that while drugs appeared to factor into the motive, the killer left both the marijuana and thousands of dollars in cash behind in the apartment.
A Waltham investigator who called the murders "the worst bloodbath I have ever seen in a long law enforcement career" said Tsarnaev has proven to possess the propensity to carry out such violence.
"There was no forced entry, it was clear that the victims had let the killer in. And their throats were slashed right out of an al Qaeda training video. The drugs and money on the bodies was very strange," said the investigator.
One of Mess' relatives revealed that they found it strange that Tsarnaev did not attend his friend's funerals. Mess' relative also described animosity between the two friends "over Brendan's lifestyle,'' according to two law enforcement sources.
"Given how religious the older brother was, and we have heard information from the college about how the younger brother was 'a pot head,' is there a chance that Tsarnaev was angry that Brendan was selling his brother marijuana? We don't know,'' said a source. "But we are certainly interested in finding out."
In addition, court documents obtained by ABC News show that Tsarnaev was arrested for domestic violence in 2009 after his then-girlfriend called 911 saying she was "being beat up by her boyfriend." However, the case was later dismissed.
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