Massachusetts
Dead marathon suspect tied to 2011 killings
BOSTON (AP) — Slain Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was named as a participant in an earlier triple homicide by a man who was subsequently shot to death while being questioned by authorities, according to a filing made by federal prosecutors in the case against his brother, surviving bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
According to the filing made Monday, Ibragim Todashev told investigators Tamerlan Tsarnaev participated in a triple slaying in Waltham on Sept. 11, 2011.
In that case, three men were found in an apartment with their necks slit and their bodies reportedly covered with marijuana. One of the victims was a boxer and friend of Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
Todashev, a 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter, was fatally shot at his Orlando home during a meeting with an FBI agent and two Massachusetts state troopers in May, authorities said. He had turned violent while being question, according to authorities.
The filing is prosecutors’ attempt to block Dzhokhar Tsarnaev from getting certain information from authorities, including investigative documents associated with the Waltham slayings.
“The government has already disclosed to Tsarnaev that, according to Todashev, Tamerlan Tsarnaev participated in the Waltham triple homicide,” prosecutors wrote.
According to prosecutors, the ongoing investigation into the 2011 slayings is reason not to allow Dzhokhar Tsarnaev access to the documents he’s seeking.
“Any benefit to 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,” prosecutors wrote.
Prosecutors also said Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is not entitled to the information because his brother’s criminal history will be relevant, if at all, only at a possible future sentencing hearing.
A phone message left for a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office was not immediately returned Tuesday night. A message left for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s federal public defender was also not immediately returned.
Authorities allege that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 20, and 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, ethnic Chechens from Russia, planned and carried out the twin bombings near the finish of the marathon on April 15. Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev faces 30 federal charges, including using a weapon of mass destruction and 16 other charges that carry the possibility of the death penalty.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev died in a gunbattle with police as authorities closed in on the brothers several days after the bombings.
Ohio
Woman claims harassment after sex pics posted
ATHENS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio college student who was mistakenly identified online as participating in a public sex act says she has been harassed.
The Ohio University student has filed a complaint with Athens police claiming she has been targeted on social media after she was wrongly identified as the victim in an alleged sexual assault that took place Oct. 12 on a city street.
Cellphone images of the sex act captured by witnesses were widely circulated in the Internet. Later, the woman in the photos and video told police she was sexually assaulted. No charges have been filed.
The Athens Messenger reports that the woman wrongly identified, a different Ohio University student from the one seen in the online images, had to deactivate her social media accounts and have her student information removed from the university website.
Ohio
Jury recommends life for man in burning death
ZANESVILLE, Ohio (AP) — A jury has recommended life in prison without parole for a man convicted in the death of a woman who was set on fire and left to die on an eastern Ohio road.
The same jury that found LaFonse Dixon Jr. guilty in the August 2012 death of Celeste Fronsman on Tuesday recommended life in prison for him instead of execution.
In trying to spare the life of the 34-year-old Dixon, his attorneys told jurors of his troubled upbringing. He’ll be sentenced Nov. 4.
Two women pleaded guilty in the case to avoid the death penalty. They testified that the trio took the 29-year-old Fronsman to rural Muskingum County, where she was set on fire and abandoned.
New York
Man indicted in long-cold ‘Baby Hope’ killing
NEW YORK (AP) — A man accused of killing his 4-year-old cousin, known for two decades only as “Baby Hope,” was indicted Tuesday in one of the city’s most haunting cold cases, as his lawyer continued to question a police confession that sealed the man’s arrest.
Conrado Juarez, a 52-year-old kitchen worker, remained held without bail and wasn’t in court as prosecutors said a grand jury decided there was enough evidence to continue charging him in the girl’s death. His lawyer had decided Juarez didn’t need to be at the brief proceeding.
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Melissa Mourges didn’t disclose the specific charge or charges, which is typical in Manhattan at this stage of the prosecution.
Juarez was arraigned earlier this month on a charge of murder, one of the few offenses with no statute of limitations in New York state.
The child’s body was found in 1991 in a cooler alongside a Manhattan highway. Juarez would have been about 30 at the time. Afterward, detectives nicknamed the then-unidentified child “Baby Hope,” helped arrange her burial and paid for her headstone.
Police marked the 22nd anniversary of the discovery of her body by putting up fliers and announcing a $12,000 reward for information. A tip then finally led investigators to her name — Anjelica Castillo — and to Juarez’s arrest this month.
Police and prosecutors say Juarez confessed to sexually abusing and suffocating Anjelica. At the time, the girl was living with his sister. The sister has since died.
Juarez later told newspapers that the girl died accidentally and that he only helped his sister dispose of her body. He said detectives pressured him into saying he killed her.
His lawyer has underscored that Juarez’s statements to authorities came after about 12 hours of interrogation and that prosecutors have yet to disclose whether any DNA or other physical evidence ties him to the girl’s death.
