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Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, the widow of Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, still faces the threat of criminal charges and remains “of interest” to Federal and State investigators four months after the terror attack.
Katherine Russell, 24, has met with investigators several times since the bombs were detonated at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15.
A source close to the investigation has told MailOnline that law enforcement officials “still want to know what she knows”, and have not ruled out bringing charges.
The source said: “We are still very interested to know what she knows and can’t rule out anything at the moment in terms of future charges or where the investigation will take us.
“So no we’ve not ruled out bringing charges. This is an ongoing investigation and she’s of interest. We are proceeding carefully and thoroughly. It’s not over.”
Her attorney, Amato DeLuca said: “Katie has co-operated with the government extensively. Hopefully, they will conclude that Katie should not be charged.”
Katherine Russell did not meet with Federal investigators until April 22 – a full seven days after the bombings – when several agents spent just 15 minutes speaking with her lawyers at the Russell family’s Rhode Island home.
Katherine Russell Tsarnaev still faces the threat of criminal charges and remains “of interest” to Federal and State investigators after Boston Marathon attack
In the months since the bombs that killed four and wounded 264, with many suffering horrendous wounds including loss of limbs, Katherine Russell’s behavior and movements have been a source of great interest and scrutiny.
In May, CNN reported one key area of interest is a telephone call made by Katherine Russell to her husband shortly after authorities released his and his brother’s picture to identify them as suspects during the manhunt in the days after the bombings.
The FBI is believed to have retrieved the content of that conversation. Although information collected in this way is rarely presented in court, it can inform the course of investigations and interviews.
In May, Katherine Russell added New York attorney Joshua Dratel to her legal team, a criminal lawyer with experience in defending terrorism cases.
Until then Katherine Russell had been content to be represented by Amato DeLuca, a longtime family friend and a specialist in civil cases such as personal injury law.
Joshua Dratel’s expertise is very different. He has represented terrorism suspects in federal courts and military commissions with Guantanamo Bay detainee, David Hicks, one of his most famous clients.
David Hicks attended an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan. He spent more than five years in Guantanamo and went onto serve a nine-month sentence in Australia having pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in March 2007.
Speaking at the time, Amato DeLuca explained Katherine Russell’s decision and said: “Mr. Dratel’s unique, specialized experience will help insure that Katie can assist in the ongoing investigation in the most constructive way possible.”
The move to bring Joshua Dratel on board came after it was reported by the Washington Post that investigators had discovered radical Islamist files on Katherine Russell’s computer.
It remains unclear whether the extremist files found on Katherine Russell’s home computer belonged to her or were downloaded by her late husband, Tamerlan Tsarnaev or his younger brother Dzhokar, 19, who is currently awaiting trial.
They included content from al-Qaeda magazine Inspire, which has featured articles such as, Make A Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom.
Investigators have speculated that this may have provided the blueprint for the homemade bombs – two pressure cookers packed with shrapnel – which were detonated with such devastating effect.
Despite submitting not guilty pleas to 30 charges, including using a weapon of mass destruction to kill, Dzokhar Tsarnaev allegedly told arresting officers that he and his older brother built the pressure cooker bombs in the basement of the Cambridge, Massachusetts, apartment building in which Tamerlan and Katherine Russell lived.
Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, the widow of Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was pictured leaving her parents home wearing a traditional Muslim headscarf yesterday – countering reports that she has turned her back on her adopted religion.
Katherine Russell, or Karima Tsarnaeva by her married name, is living at her parents’ home in Rhode Island with her daughter by Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
According to reports, her Christian parents have been encouraging her to turn her back on the religion she adopted when she married Tamerlan Tsarnaev, a Chechen who encouraged his wife to join him in a strict interpretation of his faith.
However, Katherine Russell, 24, countered any suggestion they had won her over yesterday – leaving their suburban home fully covered and wearing a headscarf.
Katherine Russell, or Karima Tsarnaeva by her married name, is living at her parents’ home in Rhode Island with her daughter by Tamerlan Tsarnaev
A report by the National Enquirer earlier this week said she had been turned away from the religion since her husband’s death in the bombings he allegedly perpetuated alongside younger brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
“Katherine is slowly starting to change,” a source told the National Enquirer, adding that she is already wearing fingernail polish and eating at fast food restaurants.
She also changed her name back to Katherine Russell, according to the report.
However, if she is converting back to Christianity it is indeed happening slowly, according to her appearance yesterday morning.
Katherine Russell was seen getting into a car with her 2-year-old daughter.
Her mother Judith Russell loaded the vehicle with a child seat wearing a t-shirt and shorts.
Katherine Russell then emerged wearing sunglasses, carrying her keys and a can of soda cutting a stark contrast to her mother’s summery look with her body fully covered in a floor length purple skirt and black long sleeve jumper.
It had previously been reported that she drastically changed after meeting Tamerlan Tsarnaev while at a club during her college years.
“Katherine was completely subservient to him,” a source told the Enquirer.
“She cowered around him.”
She is cooperating with officials in the investigation, but claims she had no idea her husband was plotting to bomb the Boston marathon as she was working 80 hours a week as a health care aide.
Katherine Russell has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but the FBI have questioned her to find out if she had any clue as to Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s plans.
Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, the widow of Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, has reportedly started to reject the strict Muslim rules her husband forced upon her.
Katherine Russell, 24, is living at her parents’ home in Rhode Island with her daughter by Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and her family is encouraging her to convert back to Christianity, according to reports.
She has also changed her name back to Katherine Russell from Karima Tsarnaeva, the name she adopted after marrying Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed earlier this year following a police shootout.
“Katherine is slowly starting to change,” a source told the National Enquirer, adding that she is already wearing fingernail polish and eating at fast food restaurants.
It had previously been reported that she drastically changed after meeting Tamerlan Tsarnaev while at a club during her college years.
Katherine Russell is cooperating with officials in the investigation, but claims she had no idea her husband was plotting to bomb the Boston marathon as she was working 80 hours a week as a health care aide.
“Katherine was completely subservient to him,” a source told the Enquirer.
“She cowered around him.”
Katherine Russell has started to reject the strict Muslim rules her husband Tamerlan Tsarnaev forced upon her
Katherine Russell has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but the FBI have questioned her to find out if she had any clue as to her husband’s plans.
The bombing at the marathon’s finish line on April 15 killed three people and injured more than 260.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his brother Dzhokhar, originally from Chechnya, are believed to have carried out the attacks due to their radical jihadist beliefs.
Katherine Russell’s lawyer Joshue Dratel, from New York, said that he joined Russell’s legal team to help her navigate the criminal justice system and to protect her interests.
He said she had spoken with investigators and planned to keep co-operating.
“I don’t see that changing in the foreseeable future,” he said.
“There’s no inconsistency between that and her interests at this point.”
Katherine Russell was widowed when Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a police shootout on April 19 – four days after he and his younger brother Dzhokhar allegedly set off bombs during the Boston Marathon. Three people were killed in the cowardly attack and 264 more were wounded, several of whom lost limbs.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is in a prison hospital facing charges that could bring the death penalty.
Tamerlan tsarnaev, 26, died on April 19 after a shootout with police.
Katherine Russell had been living in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband and two-year-old daughter, but has been staying with her parents in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, since the day her husband was killed.
Among the questions about Katherine Russell is what she knew or saw in the weeks leading up to the bombing, and in the days after it.
Two U.S. officials have said that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told investigators the bombs were assembled in the small apartment Katherine Russell shared with her husband.
Katherine Russell Tsarnaev’s new lawyer, Joshua Dratel, insists that the Boston Marathon bombing suspect’s widow will co-operate with the investigation into the terrorist atrocity.
Joshua Dratel, who has represented several terrorism suspects, joined the legal team of Katherine Russell, who was married to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, last week.
Katherine Russell has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but the FBI are currently interrogating her to find out if she had any clue as to her husband’s plans.
The bombing at the marathon’s finish line on April 15 killed three people and injured more than 260.
Katherine Russell Tsarnaev’s new lawyer Joshua Dratel insists that she will co-operate with the investigation into the terrorist atrocity
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, and his younger brother Dzhokhar, originally from Chechnya, are believed to have carried out the attacks due to their radical jihadist beliefs.
Joshua Dratel, from New York, today said that he joined Katherine Russell’s legal team to help her navigate the criminal justice system and to protect her interests.
He said she had spoken with investigators and planned to keep co-operating.
“I don’t see that changing in the foreseeable future,” he said.
“There’s no inconsistency between that and her interests at this point.”
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is in a prison hospital facing charges that could bring the death penalty. Tamerlan Tsarnaev died on April 19 after a shootout with police.
Katherine Russell, 24, had been living in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband and two-year-old daughter, but has been staying with her parents in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, since the day her husband was killed.
She has reverted to using her maiden name, switching from her married name of Tsarnaeva.
Among the questions about Katherine Russell is what she knew or saw in the weeks leading up to the bombing, and in the days after it.
Two U.S. officials have said that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told investigators the bombs were assembled in the small apartment Katherine Russell shared with her husband.
One of her lawyers has previously said Katherine Russell was working long hours and was frequently away from the apartment.
Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, the widow of Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, has stopped co-operating with authorities as it emerged female DNA found on one of the detonated bombs does not belong to her.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who was later killed in a gunfight with authorities, called his wife in the hours after the FBI released surveillance images of him and his younger brother, Dzhokhar.
But only Katherine Russell, 24, knows what was said in the conversation, as she has stopped cooperating with authorities over recent days, the New York Times reported.
Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, the widow of Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, has stopped co-operating with authorities as it emerged female DNA found on one of the detonated bombs does not belong to her
Authorities are skeptical of Katherine Russell’s insistence that she played no role in the Boston attack or in helping the Tsarnaev brothers escape the authorities following the release of the photographs, the Times reported.
A source told CNN that the bombs were built in the apartment that Tamerlan Tsarnaev shared with Katherine Russell and their 3-year-old daughter, Zahara. Residue samples were found on the kitchen table, the kitchen sink, and the bathtub, the source said.
Katherine Russell’s silence comes as sources told the newspaper that the fingerprints and female DNA found on at least one of the bombs did not belong to her. Authorities had taken a sample from her this week.
Spokesman Jason Pack confirmed that agents investigating the Boston bombings visited the North Kingstown home of Katherine Russell’s parents, where Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s widow has been staying since the Boston Marathon attacks.
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The FBI is now focusing on Katherine Russell Tsarnaev after federal officials investigating the Boston bombings have discovered radical Islamist materials on a computer belonging to the widow of Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, 24, has repeatedly claimed through her attorney that she knew nothing about the deadly April 15 bombings allegedly set off by her late husband, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and his younger brother, Dzhokhar.
The FBI is now focusing on Katherine Russell Tsarnaev after agents have discovered radical Islamist materials on her computer
However, the discovery of al-Qaeda’s Inspire magazine on Katherine Russell’s computer, along with the presence of explosive residue throughout their home, have raised new questions about her possible involvement in the act of terror.
According to a government document obtained by NBC News, an analysis of the bombs used at the Boston Marathon and pipe bombs that the Tsarnaevs had allegedly thrown at police may have been built following instructions that appeared in an Inspire article titled: Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom.
Officials have yet to determine whether the Islamist files found in Katherine Russell’s possession belonged to the 24-year-old mother, her late 26-year-old husband or a third party, a source told The Washington Post.
Tamerlan Tsranaev was shot dead in a gun battle with police four days after the marathon bombings when he and his brother allegedly carjacked a vehicle in a Boston suburb.
His younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, had fled, setting off a massive manhunt that ended when he was discovered gravely wounded hiding in a boat.
Katherine Russell’s attorney, Amato DeLuca, had previously said his client was kept in the dark about the deadly plot, and she was shocked to learn that her husband and brother-in-law were allegedly responsible for the attacks.
Meanwhile, CNN reported that investigators inspecting Katherine Russell and Tamerlan Tsranaev’s home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, found traces of explosive residue in the kitchen sink, the bathtub and on a table.
Following his arrest, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told police that he and his older brother built the pressure cooker bombs in the basement of the Cambridge residence.
However, it was established earlier this week that female DNA found one a piece of an explosive device used in the attacks did not match Katherine Russell’s, but rather belonged to a department store clerk where the Tsarnaev brothers had purchased the pressure cookers.
In another development in the case, federal and state law enforcement officials accompanied by bomb-sniffing dogs scoured a wooded area near Dartmouth, Massachusetts, where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev attended college, in search of new evidence possibly related to the attacks.
According to witness accounts, the brothers may have tested explosives in the woods two weeks before the bombings.
It was revealed earlier this week that Tamerlan Tsarnaev called his wife in the hours after the FBI released surveillance images of him and his younger brother.
But only Katherine Russell knows what was said in the conversation, as she has stopped cooperating with authorities over recent days, the New York Times reported.
Authorities are skeptical of her insistence that she played no role in the attack or in helping the Tsarnaev brothers escape the authorities following the release of the photographs, the Times reported.
A source told CNN that the bombs were built in the apartment that Tamerlan Tsarnaev shared with Katherine Russell and their 3-year-old daughter, Zahara. Residue samples were found on the kitchen table, the kitchen sink, and the bathtub, the source said.
Katherine Russell’s silence comes as sources told the newspaper that the fingerprints and female DNA found on at least one of the bombs did not belong to her. Authorities had taken a sample from her this week.
Spokesman Jason Pack confirmed that agents investigating the Boston bombings visited the North Kingstown home of Katherine Russell’s parents, where Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s widow has been staying since the attacks.
An official had revealed that female DNA was found on at least one of the bombs, although investigators haven’t determined whose it is or whether it means a woman helped the two suspects.
Her lawyer says Katherine Russell denies any involvement in the bombings, but authorities are still working to establish what exactly she knew – if anything – before or after the April 15 attacks.
On Wednesday, attorney Amato DeLuca insisted Katherine Russell “will continue to meet with law enforcement, as she has done for many hours over the past week, and provide as much assistance to the investigation as she can”.
Katherine Russell met Tamerlan Tamerlan while she was a student at Suffolk University, according to her lawyer. She converted to Islam and they married in 2010 before having a daughter.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev died on April 19 following a shoot out with police in Watertown. Investigators say his younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, hit him with a car as he fled the scene.
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A newly released mugshot show Katherine Russell, the widow of suspected Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, as she looked in 2007 at the time of her arrest for stealing $67 worth of clothing from an Old Navy store in Warwick, Rhode Island.
The picture shows Katherine Russell as an 18-year-old, in the accompanying police report she is described as “skinny” with hazel eyes and red or auburn hair – now firmly concealed by her Hijab.
Since Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s death on April 19, Katherine Russell has taken refuge at her family’s home in Rhode Island and has been doing everything she can to distance herself from Tsarnaev.
Still, now as a single mother, she has had to sit her 3-year-old daughter, Zahara, down and tell her what happened to her father, Tamerlan Tsraneav, a relative has revealed.
Katherine Russell, the widow of suspected Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, as she looked in 2007 at the time of her arrest for stealing $67 worth of clothing from an Old Navy store in Warwick
“Daddy has gone to heaven and he still loves her very much,” Katherine Russell Tsarnaev allegedly told her daughter of her father’s absence, as People magazine reports.
“She broke the news as gently as possible, but Zahara wants to know why.”
Earlier this week Katherine Russell Tsarnaev released a statement through her lawyer Amato DeLuca, saying that she wants her husband’s body released to the Tsarnaev family.
In addition to declining to claim the body herself, which is her right as his spouse, Katherine Russell Tsarnaev has also reverted to using her maiden name.
One of Tamerlan’s sisters, Bella Tsarnaev, told ABC that she and her sister Ailina plan to offer their brother a proper Muslim burial. Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, also said on Tuesday that the family would take the body.
“We will do it,” he told the Associated Press.
“A family is a family.”
On Tuesday, Amato DeLuca said Katherine Russell mourned the loss of life from the bombings.
Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s family has received more than $100,000 in welfare benefits over the last decade, according to the Boston Herald.
Details of the benefits – which included cash, food stamps and housing assistance – are contained within more than 500 documents that were handed over from Massachusetts welfare officials to a committee of state lawmakers on Monday.
The documents have not been released publicly, but a person who has reviewed them told the Boston Herald that the “breadth of the benefits the family was receiving was stunning”.
The paper also spoke to Massachusetts Rep. David Linsky about the documents, who promised a thorough review of the assistance that the family received.
“I can assure members of the public that this committee will actively review every single piece of information we can find because clearly the public has a substantial right to know what benefits, if any, this family or individuals accused of some horrific crimes were receiving,” said David Linsky, the committee’s chairman.
It has been previously reported that deceased Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his wife Katherine Russell relied on food stamps and public assistance from 2011 to 2012, soon after they became parents.
Last Friday, the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance detailed how the couple received food stamps from September 2011 to November 2012.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Katherine Russell, who married in June 2010, are believed to have become parents to their daughter, Zahara, in 2011, in the months before they began receiving the aid.
Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s family has received more than $100,000 in welfare benefits over the last decade
In addition to food stamps, the young family also benefited from TAFDC (Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children), a program for low income parents with dependent children.
TAFDC is paid out twice a month and can be directly deposited into a recipient’s bank account.
The assistance was paid to Katherine Russell, since a person must be a U.S. citizen, or eligible non-citizen, to receive the aid.
While they took the government aid, Katherine Russell would sometimes clock as many as 80 hours a week while her unemployed husband stayed at home.
Ultimately Katherine Russell Tsarnaev’s income made the couple ineligible for welfare and they stopped receiving state money in November 2012.
Welfare officials have been forced to divulge details of the aid that was paid out to the family of the bombing suspects.
Mass. Gov. Patrick Deval told state agencies last week that they should not discuss the details of what government assistance Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had received, citing privacy concerns.
Welfare information is not available for public release unless the person in question provides their consent, but it is available to lawmakers.
Massachusetts State Rep. David Linsky called on the state’s Department of Transitional Assistance to provide him with the information.
David Linksy issued an ultimatum on Thursday to welfare officials, giving them 24 hours to provide the information.
The letter from Rep. David Linsky was provided to the Boston Herald.
“My office is working to fully comply with your request,” DTA interim commissioner Stacey Monahan wrote in his report to Rep. David Linsky, saying they were only providing a summary “given the great interest in this matter”.
In addition to the aid paid out to Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Katherine Russell, both alleged Boston bombers had benefited from welfare since their parents Anzor and Zubeidat Tsarnaev collected foodstamps and TAFDC – from 2002 to 2004 and again in 2009 to 2011.
Since the Tsarnaevs are Chechen immigrants, some wondered why they received aid. But the state agency explained that they were considered eligible for the public assistance.
“The Tsarnaev parents were eligible to receive benefits as legal, non-citizen residents who were granted asylum status and met the basic eligibility criteria for DTA, including household income levels, presence of dependent children and other factors,” the DTA interim commissioner Stacey Monahan said in a letter addressed to David Linsky, Chairman of the House Post Audit and Oversight Committee.
The Herald had reported that sources who knew Tamerlan Tsarnaev said that though he sported a flashy appearance, he failed to earn very much money for his family and was essentially a stay-at-home dad.
His younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, has been described as more entrepreneurial.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died early on April 19 after a shoot-out with police in Watertown, Massachusetts.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was captured late on April 19 after an extensive manhunt.
The Rhode Island home of Katherine Russell Tsarnaev’s parents have been visited by FBI agents reportedly to take a sample of her DNA after traces of a woman were found on one of the bombs used in the Boston Marathon attacks.
Spokesman Jason Pack confirmed that agents investigating the Boston bombings visited the North Kingstown home of Katherine Russell’s parents, where Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s widow has been staying since the attacks.
According to The Wall Street Journal, FBI agents went to the house today to collect a DNA sample from Katherine Russell in a bid to rule out her involvement in the bombings.
An official close to the case told the newspaper that female DNA has been found on at least one of the bombs used in the Boston Marathon attacks. Though investigators haven’t determined whose DNA it is or whether the DNA means a woman helped the two suspects carry out the bombings.
FBI agents investigating the Boston bombings visited the North Kingstown home of Katherine Russell’s parents, where Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s widow has been staying since the attacks
Jason Pack said the FBI visited the house as part of its investigation into the April 15 blasts, which killed three people and injured hundreds more.
“The FBI is there as part of our ongoing investigation, but we aren’t permitted to discuss specific aspects of our case,” the agency said in a statement.
After agents finished their job, Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, 24, left with her attorneys through a separate door. She was later photographed smiling as she left a Providence law center with her attorney.
Katherine Russell’s attorneys have previously said she and her family were in shock when they learned of the allegations against her husband Tamerlan and brother-in-law, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a gun battle with police while surviving suspect 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction.
No one has yet come to claim Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s body, which is in the custody of the Office of Chief Medical Examiner, said Department of Public Safety spokesman Terrel Harris.
The medical officer has determined Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s cause of death, but won’t release the information until the body has been claimed, Terrel Harris told The Boston Globe.
Katherine Russell converted to Islam before marrying Tamerlan Tsarnaev and having his child, 3-year-old daughter, Zahara.
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Tamerlan Tsarnaev was receiving Massachusetts welfare benefits in the lead up to the deadly attacks at the Boston Marathon.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, lived off state aid while his wife, Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, worked as a home healthcare worker, sometimes clocking as many as 80 hours a week while her unemployed husband stayed at home, Massachusetts welfare officials revealed on Wednesday.
Ultimately Katherine Russell’s income made the couple ineligible for welfare and they stopped receiving state money in 2012.
Sources who knew Tamerlan Tsarnaev said that though he sported a flashy appearance, he failed to earn very much money for his family and was essentially a stay-at-home dad.
His younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev,on the other hand, has been described as more entrepreneurial.
Katherine Russell Tsarnaev worked as a home healthcare worker, sometimes clocking as many as 80 hours a week, while her unemployed husband Tamerlan Tsarnaev stayed at home
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, who was a sophomore at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, attended the school on a scholarship and earned petty cash selling marijuana, sources told the Boston Globe.
Investigators are scrutinizing the Tsarnaev brothers’ source of income, as they probe whether the pair received outside assistance for their attack, either from a radical group or foreign government.
Security experts have noted though that the modus operandi was relatively cheap, estimating that the materials for each of the pressure cooker bombs used at the Boston Marathon attack could have cost a total of $100 each.
It is not known when Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Katherine Russell, the mother of the couple’s 3-year-old daughter, began receiving the aid.
They “were not receiving transitional assistance benefits at the time of the [Boston Marathon blasts]”, Massachusetts Office of Health and Human Services spokesman Alec Loftus told the Boston Herald.
Both suspects believed to be behind the bombings, Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his brother, Dzhokhar, had also received welfare as children.
Their parents, Anzor Tsarnaev and Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, relied on state assistance when they moved to America from the Russian republic of Dagestan.
State officials have been reluctant to discuss whether the Tsarnaevs had received state money when they immigrated to the U.S. in the early 2000s.
Ultimately, after pressure from the press the state welfare benefits office divulged the information to the Boston Herald.
It appears that Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, the widow of suspected Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, has a criminal record and is a confessed shoplifter.
According to a police report from 2007, Katherine Russell was arrested that year for stealing $67 worth of clothing from an Old Navy store in Warwick, Rhode Island.
And in an intriguing twist, Katherine Russell, who was 18 at the time, told officers she was married though she was living at parent’s North Kingstown home and did not meet Tamerlan Tsranaev until some two years later.
The startling revelation of this tawdry incident raises fresh questions over the past and character of the “all-American girl” “brainwashed” according to her friends, by her fanatic husband.
Katherine Russell, no 25, was arrested along with an unnamed female minor on 26 June 2007. Then, the police report states, she was “skinny” with hazel eyes and red or auburn hair – now firmly concealed by the Hijab. She is described as unemployed and married.
Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, the widow of suspected Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, has a criminal record and is a confessed shoplifter
Old Navy store security guard Linda Lewis stopped the girls having watched Katherine Russelll and her companion enter the store, select several items and put them in their handbags.
In 2011 Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, was charged with stealing several designer dresses worth $1,600 from a store in suburban Natick.
Katherine Russell’s foray was hardly on the same scale. She took five items valuing $67; her friend took three with a total item of $125.
She was placed in handcuffs and taken to Warwick Police Department.
According to the store Loss Prevention Agent Linda Lewis: “They admitted to shoplifting the items and handed the over without further incident.”
Katherine Russell was summonsed to appear at Kent County Courthouse where her charge was dismissed on paying a $200 fine and doing community service.
That fall Katherine Russell enrolled in a Communications course at Suffolk University, Boston, an act that led to her meeting Tamerlan Tsranaev in a nightclub and the relationship that would ultimately derail her college dreams completely.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s wife, Katherine Russell, was “an all-American girl who was brainwashed” by her extremist husband, a schoolfriend claimed today.
According to those who knew her best, Katherine Russell was “totally transformed” by Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
Katherine Russell’s high school personal motto was: “Do something about it or stop complaining”.
She dreamed of going to college and joining the Peace Corps.
She urged her friends to “lighten up and enjoy the small things”, in life.
But she met Tamerlan Tsarneav, a disenfranchised man who came to America from his troubled homeland of Chechnya who rapidly had her in his thrall.
By the time she was 21, Katherine Russell had married him and borne his child, Zahara, now 3. She had converted to Islam, hidden her tumble of chestnut hair beneath the hijab and undergone a change so profound that today few friends profess to truly understand it.
Yesterday Katherine Russell, who has been staying at her parents’ home in Rhode Island, returned to the Cambridge, Massachusetts, home which she shared with late husband Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
Dressed in a leopard print hijab Katherine Russell darted into the white shingle house to collect some belongings and her pet cat while her daughter waited in the car.
Today Katherine Russell was back home, accompanied by armed federal agents who first interviewed her and her family on Friday.
Shortly before 6 p.m. on Sunday three law enforcement agents – two men, one woman – all wearing dark sunglasses delivered a package to the Russell’s family home.
Katherine Russell’s mother Judith was initially reluctant to answer the front door, opening it fully only after requesting that the officers, thought to be Federal Agents, showed their credentials.
Their presence raises the question how much did Katherine Russell know about Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s activities and links?
Katherine Russell’s awareness of her then husband’s movements, thoughts and plans is under intense scrutiny as her relation to the Boston bomber and her proximity to both brothers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, makes her a key witness – witting or otherwise.
After all she was living with Tamerlan Tsarnaev when he travelled to Makhachkala in 2011 – a trip now attracting the interest of investigators trying to establish whether he met with Gaczhimurad Dolgatov at that time.
Gaczhimurad Dolgatov was a Dagestani jihadist who died in 2012 after a vicious stand-off with Russian security services.
As it has already been revealed, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was on the FBI’s radar during that time as they were asked to look into his potential links to extremist groups.
None who knew Katherine Russell as a child could have dreamed that this would be the face she would one day present to the world, nor that her life and those of so many Bostonians would be so violently caught up with two brothers from Chechnya and a cause as unclear as it was brutal.
Katherine Russell’s awareness of Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s movements, thoughts and plans is under intense scrutiny, making her a key witness
As a girl growing up in Rhode Island Katherine Russell was known to her friends as Katie. One school friend who asked not to be named recalled: “I saw her like a few months ago and she was just totally transformed. She was not the same person at all.”
Another agreed: “She was just this All-American girl who was brainwashed by her super-religious husband. Nobody understands what happened to her.
“None of us would have dreamed that she would marry so young or drop out of college and have a baby or convert or be part of any of what’s happened.”
The friend said: “She’s just not the same person at all.”
It would be hard to imagine a childhood more rooted in America’s pilgrim heritage than Katherine Russell’s. It is in there in the names of the towns – Plymouth, Dorset, Greenwich –where many of her friends still live and writ large in the wholesome values of the one-time Honors student’s home life.
The eldest of three daughters, to emergency physician Dr. Warren Russell and nurse Judith, hers is a background steeped in the values of family and education.
Katherine Russell attended Daisyville Middle School, North Kingstown. As a sixth grader she is pictured smiling from the pages of the 2001-2002 yearbook dedicated to The North Kingstown Police and Fire Departments in the wake of 9/11. – a date, the opening dedication reads: “Forever in our minds.”
A section of the book is titled, Enduring Freedom, as the school, along with the rest of the nation, refused to be cowed by the acts of terror that hit the homeland on September 11, 2001.
In 2004, Katherine Russell progressed to North Kingstown High School.
She took part gamely in the school’s Mismatch/Bad Hair Day; she dressed up for Hawaiian day though the occasion fell in a chilly October.
She was a member of the Dance Team and the Art Club. In 11th grade she was awarded a Silver Key for a rather odd image of a cat, lashing out at a mouse in a ballet shoe. Her favorite food was Pad Thai.
Katherine Russell competed with her peers in Class Color Day that ended with a Pep Rally in which seas of the school colors, green, blue, red, black and gold filled the stands at the playing field.
One classmate who remembers Katherine Russell from those early days said: “The thing that’s so shocking is that there was nothing at all that made Katherine different.
“Her parents are nice people, her sisters are great girls. But she met this guy, I guess, and everything changed.”
Katherine Russell was a student at Sussex University, Boston, when she met Tamerlan Tsarnaev, then a promising boxer and athlete.
It was during that time that she converted and her youthful priorities appear to have changed as she left in 2010 without graduating.
By then her relationship with Tamerlan Tsarnaev was intense. Not even his arrest for violently assaulting her in 2009 could change that.
According to Cambridge City Police Department, the incident which took place in July at the Massachusetts home Katherine Russell once shared with Tamerlan Tsarnaev, when interviewed she described him as “a very nice man”.
Certainly Tamerlan Tsarnaev was a man whose influence on Katherine Russell’s life would prove profound.
There is only one odd and unsettling inclusion in her own entry in her graduation High School Yearbook.
Asked to provide a quotation Katherine Russell settled on one that would surely chime with the extremist views of her late husband.
“Don’t take anything for granted,” Katherine Russell advises, before quoting a line from David Bowie’s Quicksand: “Don’t believe in yourself, don’t deceive with belief,” the baffling lines run.
“Knowledge comes from death’s release.”
The parents of Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s wife have put their Rhode Island home on the market on the same day the Boston bomber was shot dead by police.
Katherine Russell’s mother and father on Friday put their large detached family home in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, up for sale for $467,000.
The family have lived there for 14 years but the pain of recent events appears to have forced them to move to make a clean break with the past.
Within hours of being gunned down by police as Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, tried to flee arrest, the Russell family home had been posted onto a string of online real estate websites.
Katherine Russell’s parents have put their Rhode Island home on the market on the same day Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot dead by police
Public records show that Katherine Russell’s father Warren, 55, an emergency room physician, bought the Colonial style property on tree lined street a quiet middle class suburb in 1999.
It has three bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms and sits on 0.74 acres of land.
The living area coves 3,090 sq ft, it has Cathedral ceilings inside and a fireplace.
There is a large garden in the front, a basement, central air conditioning and a paved driveway leading to two garages under the house.
Today onlookers could be seen driving past the home with the real estate listings on their laps.
Asked why the property had been put on the market, Katherine Russell’s mother Judith said: “No comment.”
Tamerlan Tsarnaev has a 3-year-old daughter called Zahara with Katherine Russell, 24, who converted to Islam for her husband.
Katherine’s parents, Judith and Warren Russell, issued an emotional statement following the terror attack that left three dead and 176 injured, saying: “Our daughter has lost her husband today, the father of her child.
“We cannot begin to comprehend how this horrible tragedy occurred. In the aftermath of the Patriot’s Day horror, we know that we never really knew Tamerlane Tsarnaev.
“Our hearts are sickened by the knowledge of the horror he has inflicted.”
It emerged today that Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s wife is Katherine Russell, who converted to Islam for him, and they have a three-year-old daughter called Zahara.
Last night, Katherine Russell’s parents, Judith and Warren, issued an emotional statement following Boston Marathon attack that left three dead and 176 injured, reading: “Our daughter has lost her husband today, the father of her child.
“We cannot begin to comprehend how this horrible tragedy occurred. In the aftermath of the Patriot’s Day horror, we know that we never really knew Tamerlane Tsarnaev.
“Our hearts are sickened by the knowledge of the horror he has inflicted.”
The 26-year-old Chechen – who was shot dead by cops last night – was regularly seen at Katherine Russell’s family home in Rhode Island.
Their home was raided by the FBI and cops before dawn this morning.
At 5 p.m. today, Katherine Russell, 24, was driven back to the house by a relative and flanked by two SUVs being driven by agents from the Department of Homeland Security.
It appears that Katherine Russell – who also uses the last name Tsarnaeva – converted to Islam shortly after starting school at Suffolk University in Boston, to marry Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
After converting to Islam, the young woman used to dress in the Islamic style, neighbors said. Her hair was covered with a white headscarf and she was wearing very baggy, flowy clothing.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev got his American citizenship on September 11, 2012. He traveled to Russia last year and returned to the US six months later, government officials told The Associated Press today.
According to the website spotcrime.com, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was arrested for domestic violence in July 2009 after assaulting his girlfriend.
Katherine Russell converted to Islam to marry Tamerlan Tsarnaev
Katherine Russell, who has two younger sisters Anna and Becca, grew up with parents Judith and Warren in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, before moving to Boston for college.
Local reporter Ted Nesi of WPRI-TV 12 this afternoon tweeted: “Suffolk U. confirms to me that a Katherine O. Russell of No. Kingstown RI was a student there from Fall 2007-Spring 2010. Did not graduate.”
Neighbors said that Warren Russell works as a physician, while his wife, Judith, is a nurse.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev , the older brother of 19-year-old Dzhokhar, who was captured last night after a massive all-out manhunt in Boston at its suburbs, died Thursday evening after an armed battle with police in Watertown.
Meanwhile, the brothers’ aunt Maret Tsarnaeva, who works as a doctor in Canada, was insistent as she told reporters in Toronto today that her nephew was in love with his wife and daughter.
“He has a wife in Boston and from a Christian family, so you can’t tie it to religion,” Maret Tsarnaeva said.
“At that age all they want is love, so he found his love, he married, he had a daughter, and he was very happy about his daughter.”
However, Maret Tsarnaeva admitted Tamerlan “seemingly did not find himself yet in America, because it’s not easy”.
Demanding proof the brothers were the bombers, Maret Tsarnaeva said: “We’re talking about three dead people, 100-something injured, and I do not believe, I just do not believe our boys would do that … I don’t know them in the way that they could be capable of this.”
Maret Tsarnaeva said the boys’ father, her brother Anzor Tsarnaev, had high expectations for his sons, especially Tamerlan, and was upset when he found out Tamerlan had dropped out of university.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev wasn’t a devout practicing Muslim, “but just recently, maybe two years ago, he started praying five times a day”, she said.
Maret Tsarnaeva said her brother’s family came to the US in 2002 after she helped them apply for refugee status. She said the family also has two sisters who live in Boston.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older of the two Chechen brothers accused in the Boston Marathon bombings, once dreamed of representing the US as a boxer, but over the past year, he had turned to radical Islam and got on the path of Jihad.
Officials say Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his younger brother, Dzhokhar – refugees from the Caucasus region – were the men behind the horrific terrorist attack that took the lives of three and left 176 injured during the Boston Marathon on Monday.
Hours before his death, Tamerlan Tsarnaev called his uncle Alvi Tsarnaev and asked for forgiveness – revealing the news of his young family.
Alvi Tsarnaev told The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News that his nephew phoned him Thursday night for the first time in about two years.
The call came at 7 p.m., just a couple of hours before Tamerlan was shot dead.
“He said, <<I love you and forgive me>>,” said Alvi Tsarnaev, who lives in Montgomery Village, Maryland.
“We were not talking for a long time because there were some problems,” Alvi Tsarnaev said, without elaborating.
“We were not happy with each other.”
They spoke for about five minutes, he said. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who is Muslim, started out by saying, “Salam Aleikum”, an Arabic greeting meaning “peace on you”. He then praised his uncle for keeping up with his Muslim prayers.
They talked about family and Alvi Tsarnaev said: “I told him I was praying to Allah, not drinking, not smoking, and he told me he was happy.
“He was asking, <<Did you pay your mortgage?>> I told him I was trying to pay. I asked him what he was doing. He said, <<I fix cars, I got married, got a baby>>.”
