Support The Moscow Times!

U.S. Seeks to Interview Wife of Suspected Bomber

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island — Federal authorities have asked to speak with the wife of suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, her lawyer said.

Lawyer Amato DeLuca also offered new details on Tsarnaev's movements in the days after the bombings, saying "he was home" when his wife left for work on the last day she saw him alive.

Katherine Russell Tsarnaev learned her husband was a suspect by seeing it on TV, DeLuca said in an interview Sunday.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, and his brother, Dzhokhar, 19, two ethnic Chechen brothers from Dagestan, are accused of planting two explosives near the marathon finish line April 15, killing three and injuring more than 180. A motive remains unclear.

Katherine Russell Tsarnaev did not speak to federal officials who came Sunday evening to her parents' home, where she has been staying since her husband was killed during a getaway attempt Friday.

DeLuca said he spoke with the federal officials, but he would not offer further details. "We're deciding what we want to do and how we want to approach this," he said.

When asked whether anything seemed amiss to the wife following the bombings, DeLuca said, "Not as far as I know."

DeLuca said his client did not suspect her husband of anything. He said she had been working 70 to 80 hours, seven days a week as a home health care aide. While she was at work, her husband cared for their toddler daughter, DeLuca said.

"When this allegedly was going on, she was working, and had been working all week to support her family," he said.

He said Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was off at college and she saw him "not at all" at the apartment they shared with her mother-in-law.

Katherine Russell Tsarnaev was attending university in Boston when friends introduced her to her future husband at a nightclub, DeLuca said. They dated on and off, then married in 2009 or 2010, he said.

She was raised Christian, but at some point after meeting Tamerlan Tsarnaev, she converted to Islam, he said. When asked why she converted, he said, "She believes in the tenets of Islam and of the Koran. She believes in God."

Related articles:

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter

Our weekly newsletter contains a hand-picked selection of news, features, analysis and more from The Moscow Times. You will receive it in your mailbox every Friday. Never miss the latest news from Russia. Preview
Subscribers agree to the Privacy Policy

A Message from The Moscow Times:

Dear readers,

We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."

These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.

By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.

Once
Monthly
Annual
Continue
paiment methods
Not ready to support today?
Remind me later.

Read more