Ever since Boston police identified the Boston Marathon bombing suspects as Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, authorities have been digging into the brothers’ pasts to learn why they wanted to hurt people at the finish line of the marathon. In addition to finding out that over $100,000 in government assistance has gone to the Tsarnaev family, authorities found female DNA on bomb parts recovered at the scene of the bombings.
Now, The New York Times is reporting that Dzhokhar has revealed some of the bombing plot to the F.B.I. From his hospital bed, the alleged bomber told police that he and Tamerlan had originally planned to plant their bombs on the Fourth of July. Their bomb-making proceeded more quickly than planned, and the Boston Marathon was chosen as the target. Dzhokhar also reportedly stated that the bombings were partly motivated by the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that he and his brother had viewed online sermons from Anwar al-Awlaki, an American cleric.
Intense scrutiny of Tamerlan’s wife, Katherine Russell has also begun. She has retreated to her family’s home in Rhode Island since the bombings and is caring for her and her former husband’s 3-year-old daughter. Tamerlan died in a shootout with police shortly after the Tsarnaev’s pictures were released in connection with the bombings.
The Times cites two unnamed “law enforcement officials” as saying the fingerprints found on the bomb materials were not Russell’s. Even so, authorities have stated that Russell is no longer cooperating with the investigation.
The investigation into Russell’s relationship with her husband has uncovered that she was arrested in Warwick, Rhode Island in 2007 for stealing $67 worth of clothes from an Old Navy store. Her mugshot (seen above) has been released by Warwick police.