Authorities involved in the ongoing investigation of the Boston Marathon attacks have identified female DNA on pieces of explosives used in the incident, though investigators caution against jumping to conclusions.
Word of the new DNA evidence came on the same day that FBI agents visited the home of Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s widow’s parents in suburban Providence, Rhode Island. That residency is where the bombing suspect’s widow, Katherine Russell, and her three-year-old daughter have been staying since the eldest Tsarnaev brother was revealed to be a suspect in the attack and was subsequently killed during a shootout with Boston police.
A lawyer representing Russell stated that she is actively cooperating with the investigation. As the Wall Street Journal reports, FBI officials have been negotiating with her lawyer for full access to question Russell, though she has not been named a suspect in the April 15 bombing.
Officials confirmed that agents collected a DNA sample from Russell after days of negotiations, which they say will be analyzed for a match with DNA recently found on the bomb parts.
FBI agents spent several hours at the home of Russell’s parents, emerging with bags marked as DNA samples, a person familiar with the case told Reuters. Russell and Tamerlan Tsarnaev lived with their daughter in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and police are known to have found bomb elements in their home.
According to Russell’s lawyers, she was unaware of 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s radicalization as she spent the majority of her time working as a health aide, while her husband stayed at home watching their daughter.