It’s been over two weeks since Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev allegedly detonated two pressure cooker bombs at the Boston Marathon; an act of terror that killed three and injured more than 200.
Since April 15, authorities have shut down and reopened the city of Boston, engaged in a shootout with the Tsarnaev brothers, captured the youngest of the two and charged him with using a weapon of mass destruction. He is now being held in a small cell in a federal medical detention center.
Just yesterday, authorities arrested three of Dzhokhar’s friends on charges of falsifying information and conspiracy to obstruct justice. The young men are accused of destroying Dzhokhar’s laptop and a backpack that held fireworks and potential explosives in order to protect him.
Here are the latest updates in the ongoing case.
1. Bombers Planned a July 4th Attack/Tamerlan’s Body to be Moved
NBC is reporting that the suspected Boston bombers planned to attack on July 4, but had bombs ready early and moved up.
The body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev has also been claimed by his family.
2. Former Girlfriend of Dzhokhar says 3 Additional Suspects “Idolized Jahar”
A young woman who had a brief fling with the younger of the Tsarnaev brothers told Mother Jones that the three additional suspects, Robio Phillipos, Azamat Tazhayakov, and Dias Kadrybayev all idolized the suspected bomber.
“They all sort of idolized Jahar,” she said, using the name she and others knew Tsarnaev by. “Dias was probably the one closest to him.” She said that of the friends, Tsarnaev was the most popular and in touch with campus social life. “I cannot speak to the nature of their relationship because of the language barrier, however I did observe that Jahar was always the leader in his group.”
That may explain why two of the suspects destroyed materials that could implicate Dzhokhar in the crime. The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, also told Mother Jones how she met Jahar and how the relationship ended.
“I met him standing outside a building and honestly, his face was enough to capture my heart,” she explained, noting that lots of women fawned over him. “I walked right up to him and I was like, ‘Oh my God, you are adorable. Can we hang out?’ I’m very forward.”
Her nascent romance with Tsarnaev soon soured, though, after he invited her to come to his dorm room alone. “He wanted to go further than I did, and that made me uncomfortable, and I realized that that’s not the kind of person that I wanted to be around,” she says. “I don’t think that’s necessarily being a terrorist. I think that’s just called being a hands-y teenaged boy.”
She, however, does remain skeptical that Dzhokhar had a religious motive to carry out the bombing.
3. Kazakhstan Working With U.S. on Boston Bomb Probe
After learning that two of the three additional bombing suspects were from Kazakhstan, the country is aiding the U.S. in the investigation. The country also said that they condemned any form of terrorism.
Students Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, both 19, were charged by U.S. authorities with conspiring to obstruct justice by hiding a backpack and fireworks they found in the dorm room of one of the suspected bombers.
They face up to five years in prison if found guilty.
4. Tsarnaev Women & Shoplifting
We already know that the mother of the bombing suspects is wanted for shoplifting charges in America, but it was just revealed that the wife of Tamerlan, Katherine Russell, was also in a bit of trouble for the same thing years ago.
A 2007 mugshot of Russell has emerged after she stole $67 worth of clothing from an Old Navy store in Rhode Island. She was 18-years-old at the time and was not sporting the Hijab that she currently wears, indicating that she may not have converted to Islam at that time.
Story developing.
