(NECN) - The shooting death of a Florida man by law enforcement last May raised questions in the ongoing investigation into the Boston Marathon bombings.
Ibraghim Todashev was allegedly under questioning by the FBI concerning a triple homicide in Waltham, Mass. in 2011, as well as that murder's connection, if any, to Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the suspects of the Boston Marathon bombings.
A breakthrough report on the Todashev shooting in the current issue of Boston Magazine, amplified by "This American Life," asks the question of whether or not the marathon bombings could have been prevented.
Reporter Susan Zalkind says one of the men murdered in 2011, Erik Weissman, was a friend of hers. At the time, authorities chalked up the gruesome killing as a drug deal gone bad.
"Erik Weissman's mother spoke to police 10 or 11 days after the murders and they told her they were just waiting for someone to step forward with a plea bargain, so for another criminal case to arise for the next lead," Zalkind says.
Many of Brandon Mess' friends said Tamerlan Tsarnaev used to be a former friend of his, but say no one ever questioned him.
"Hindsight makes everything clear. Who knows, the local police could've done everything they could have and still not been able to come up with Tamerlan Tsarnaev, but what's so disturbing is they had leads and they weren't following up on them," Zalkind says.
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Zalkind traveled to Florida to visit the condo where Boston law enforcement officials allegedly questioned and shot Todashev. There, she met Todashev's girlfriend, who was still mourning for his loss.
"It was strange that I actually did relate to her a lot. I mean, we had both lost men violently and mysteriously. But it was scary. I was wondering if her dead boyfriend slit my friend's throat," she recalls.
