FBI blocks release of autopsy on Boston suspects' pal

Michael Winter | USA TODAY

The FBI has barred the Orlando medical examiner from releasing the autopsy report on a friend of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects who was shot dead by an agent during questioning in May.

Although the autopsy on Ibragim Todashev was completed July 8 and "ready for release," the FBI "has informed this office that the case is still under active investigation and thus not to release the document," Tony Miranda, forensic records coordinator for Orange and Osceola counties, wrote in a statement Tuesday. The statement cites a Florida statute that bars the release of autopsy reports during criminal investigations.

The ME's office said it would contact the FBI every month for authority to release the report.

An FBI agent killed 27-year-old Todashev in his Orlando apartment during questioning related to the bombings and an unsolved triple murder in Waltham, Mass., two years ago. The agency and the Justice Department are conducting an internal investigation.

The FBI and Massachusetts State Police have not released details of the fatal shooting. Initial reports, attributed to law enforcement officials, indicated that Todashev allegedly attacked the FBI agent May 22 while preparing to sign a statement implicating him and the Boston bombing suspects — Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev — in the Sept. 11, 2011, triple slayings.

DNA from Todashev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, both native Chechens, was being tested to see whether they were at the murder scene. It's not clear whether those tests have been completed.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev died during a police shootout four days after the April 15 Boston bomb blasts, which killed three people and wounded more than 260. His brother was later captured and is facing trial.