Free Republic

The trial for the Boston Marathon bombing might become a family affair. Katherine Russell, the widow of slain suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, could face criminal charges for the April 2013 terror attack, ABC News reported. Police reportedly believe that Russell knew about the havoc Tsarnaev and his younger brother, Dzhokar, planned for the marathon, and failed to let authorities know about it. Dzhokar Tsarnaev is currently on trial for the attack.

The widow of alleged Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev has started acting more like her old self by watching movies, listening to rock music and reconnecting with her family, her relatives have said. Katherine Russell, 24, is living at her parents' home in Rhode Island with her daughter by Tsarnaev, and she is enjoying the activities once forbidden by her late husband. She has changed her name back to Katherine Russell from Karima Tsarnaeva, the name she adopted after marrying Tsarnaev, who was killed earlier this year following a police shootout.

BOSTON (AP) — Every time the widow of suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev leaves her parents' house, federal agents watching the residence follow her in unmarked vehicles. Federal authorities are placing intense pressure on what they know to be the inner circle of the two bombing suspects, arresting three college buddies of surviving brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and keeping Tamerlan's 24-year-old widow, Katherine Russell, in the public eye with their open surveillance and leaks to media about investigators' focus on her. Legal experts say it's part of their quest not just to determine whether Russell and the friends are culpable...

Female DNA has been found on at least one of the bombs used in the Boston Marathon attacks, according to a new report. But it isn’t clear if that means a woman helped suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev carry out the attacks. U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal there could be several explanations for the DNA, including that it could have come from a store clerk who handled the materials the two brothers allegedly used in the bombings. A stray hair that landed on one of the explosives could also explain the DNA finding.

Female DNA Found on Bomb in Boston Attack By EVAN PEREZ And DEVLIN BARRETT Investigators have found female DNA on at least one of the bombs used in the Boston Marathon attacks, though they haven't determined whose DNA it is or whether that means a woman helped the two suspects carry out the attacks, according to U.S. officials briefed on the probe. The officials familiar with the case cautioned that there could be multiple explanations for why the DNA of someone other than the two bombing suspects—Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his younger brother, Dzhokhar—could have been found on remnants of the...

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said Sunday he thinks the Boston Marathon bombing suspects were trained in carrying out the attack. Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul told “Fox News Sunday” he thinks suspects Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev had help, considering the device’s level of sophistication and the type of device -- a shrapnel-packed, pressure-cooker bomb. “That leads me to believe there was a trainer,” the Texas Republican said. Homemade bombs built from pressure cookers have been a frequent weapon of militants in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. Al Qaeda's branch in Yemen once published an online manual on how...

Marathon bombings mastermind Tamerlan Tsarnaev was living on taxpayer-funded state welfare benefits even as he was delving deep into the world of radical anti-American Islamism, the Herald has learned. State officials confirmed last night that Tsarnaev, slain in a raging gun battle with police last Friday, was receiving benefits along with his wife, Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, and their 3-year-old daughter. The state’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services said those benefits ended in 2012 when the couple stopped meeting income eligibility limits. Russell Tsarnaev’s attorney has claimed Katherine — who had converted to Islam — was working up to...