Boston Marathon Bombing Trial, Investigation 2015 News: 'Mujahedeen's Wife' Still Under Investigation
Katherine Russell, the wife of slain bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, searched the Internet for "wife of mujahedeen" and "what are the rewards for wives of mujahedeen" in the months before the April 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, according to testimony in the penalty phase of the trial of convicted bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on Tuesday.
Gina Crawford, Russell's friend, told the court Monday that shortly after the bombing, Russell exchanged texts with her. In one of her text messages she wrote: "Although a lot more people are killed every day in Syria and other places. Innocent people."
"I thought it was strange she was bringing that up in this situation," Crawford told the court Monday. Crawford also told the court that the F.B.I. had interviewed her twice in 2013.
Russell, who changed her name to Karima Tsarnaeva, has not been charged in connection with the April 15, 2013 bombings that killed three people, left another 17 people with amputated limbs, and wounded more than 240 others.
Law enforcement officials are still investigating what role, if any, Russell played in the bombing conspiracy, ABC News said.
Russell's name has been mentioned several times during the penalty phase of the trial by Tsarnaev's defense team who are trying to save him from the death penalty by painting his older brother Tamerlan as the brains behind the attacks. Dzhokhar was convicted earlier this month of all 30 counts against him related to the bombing.
Tamerlan, 26, was killed in the early morning of April 19, 2013 when he was shot in a gun battle with police and then fatally hit and dragged by the stolen SUV driven by his brother Dzhokhar who was fleeing from the scene in the Boston suburb of Watertown.
Russell's mother Judith, a nurse, also took the stand for the defense Monday, telling the court that her daughter met Tamerlan at a nightclub while she was a student at Suffolk University. She said she was unimpressed when Katherine brought Tamerlan home to meet her.
"He didn't really seem interested in getting to know us, so it didn't start off on a really good feeling," Judith Russell told the court. "We weren't real happy with her choice in the relationship."
Judith Russell told the court that after Tamerlan traveled to Russia in 2012, the couple's interest in Islam intensified and became an "obsession."
"She was covering and he started to grow his body hair," Katherine's mother said. "There was progression of his belief system and passion."
Judith said her daughter is "healing" now but not living at home. After Tamerlan's death, Katherine moved to Rhode Island, she said.
"Obviously it hasn't been as hard as all the other victims in Boston, but she's getting her life together is more kind of lighter in spirit and more like the Katie that we know," she said.
Judith Russell likewise disclosed that she was among those interviewed by law enforcers after the bombings.
