Update 1:13pm 5/1/13
Three new suspects have been charged in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing for conspiring to get rid of an incriminating backpack full of gutted fireworks belonging to their friend after learning he was a suspect in the April 15 terror attack, according to an FBI affidavit released Wednesday.
Dias Kadyrbayev, Azamat Tazhayakova and Robel Phillipos, all described as friends of Tsarnaev at UMass-Dartmouth, allegedly went to Tsarnaev’s dorm and took a laptop, the backpack and some Vaseline that may have been used in making the deadly pressure cooker bombs that killed three and injured more than 200 at the race. The affidavit filed in support of a complaint said Kadyrbayev was the one who carried out the disposal of the backpack.
“Kadyrbayev knew when he saw the empty fireworks that Tsarnaev was involved in the Marathon bombing,” the affidavit reads. “Kadyrbayev decided to remove the backpack from the room in order to help his friend Tsarnaev avoid trouble.”
The three acted on April 18, three days after the bombing and hours after investigators aired surveillance footage identifying Tsarnaev and his older brother Tamerlan as the suspects in the bombing, though not by name, according to authorities. Phillipos first saw footage depicting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the news Thursday, and told Kadyrbayev over the phone that he suspected their friend was the bomber. When Kadyrbayev later texted Tsarnaev and said he bore a resemblance to the subject of an intense manhunt, Tsarnaev allegedly sent back a chilling response: “Lol, You better not text me.”
The exchange came just before 9 p.m. on April 18, a few hours before the Tsarnaev brothers would carjack a Chinese immigrant, murder an MIT police officer and engage in a wild shootout with police through the streets of Cambridge and Watertown, police say. Tamerlan Tsarnaev died April 19, after a shootout hours after authorities showed the brothers on surveillance video and named them as suspects.
Although the three new suspects initially appear to have stonewalled authorities, Phillipos came clean in a fourth interview, conducted April 26. He confessed that the three took the backpack out of their friend’s dorm room, according to the affidavit.
Prior to the latest development, authorities had named only the brothers as suspects in the bombing at the finish line of the world famous race.
Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov, who are both from Kazakhstan, faced an immigration hearing earlier Wednesday morning, sources said. Phillipos was to be arraigned on the new charges Wednesday afternoon.
Kadyrbayev’s attorney Robert Stahl says his client will be transported to the federal courthouse later Wednesday to appear on new criminal charges. On Friday, Yerlan Kubashev with the Consulate General for Kazakhstan in New York confirmed in a statement to Fox News that the consulate is helping the young men with legal representation.
Kubashev said the two men are “shocked at the bombings,” and “they express sorrow to the bombing victims and their families.”
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is in a prison hospital after being wounded in the shootout with police as he and his brother made their getaway attempt. He is charged with using a weapon of mass destruction to kill, a crime that carries a potential death sentence.
Authorities have searched the Rhode Island home of the parents of Katherine Russell, Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s widow.
Click for more from MyFoxBoston.com
Fox News’ Pamela Browne contributed to this report.
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Three additional suspects were taken into custody in the Boston Marathon bombing case, the Boston Police Department tells FoxNews.com.
Police would not confirm when the suspects were taken into custody, and referred further questions to the FBI.
Prior to the latest development, authorities had named only brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as suspects in the April 15 bombing at the finish line of the world famous race.
Two of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s UMass-Dartmouth roommates, Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, are from Kazakhstan and faced an immigration hearing this morning, sources said. Sources told Fox News they face obstruction charges in connection with the bombing. The identity of the third suspect is unclear.
Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov are suspected of taking computers and other equipment from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s apartment and trying to dispose of it after the bombings, sources told Fox News.
Police did not confirm the gender of the third suspect. More information was expected to be provided by the US Attorney’s office later Wednesday.
Three people were killed and more than 200 injured when the pair allegedly set two bombs, at least one of which was made from a pressure cooker packed with explosives and shrapnel, amid the crowd.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev died April 19, after a shootout hours after authorities showed the brothers on surveillance video and named them as suspects. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is in a prison hospital after being wounded in the shootout with police as he and his brother made their getaway attempt. He is charged with using a weapon of mass destruction to kill, a crime that carries a potential death sentence.
Authorities have searched the Rhode Island home of the parents of Katherine Russell, Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s widow.
Click for more from MyFoxBoston.com