Katherine Russell: Wife of Boston Bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Who Converted to Islam From Christianity, Returns Home
Katherine Russell, the widow of dead Boston bombing suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, has returned to her home in Cambridge on Saturday.
The 24-year-old wife of the elder brother in the bombings was photographed wearing a leopard-print hijab as she returned to her home after a traumatic week in which her family claimed they "never really knew" her husband.
The New York Post has reported that Russell came home to quickly collect her belongings, including her pet cat, a shopping bag and duffel bag, before departing in a white Volvo where her 3-year-old daughter waited with another woman. She seemed keen to avoid the media presence that now surrounds her since her 26-year-old husband was identified as one of the brothers who is suspected of placing two bombs at the Boston Marathon on Monday.
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A photo of Russell outside her home can be seen here.
A neighbor has spoken to reporters, defending the widow and her family, telling the New York Post, "The mother and baby didn't do anything."
The home reportedly belongs to the Tsarnaev family, who lived there since 2002 or 2003. Bombing suspect brothers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar, are reported to have lived there after their parents moved back to Russia.
Meanwhile, Russell is not the only member of her family looking to hide from the attention that has been placed upon them by Tamerlan's identification in the bombings. Her parents have reportedly put their home in Rhode Island up for sale. The large detached home in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, was put on the market hours after their son-in-law was killed during a dramatic shootout with police Thursday.
Russell's father Warren bought the property back in 1999, and her parents have resided in the property, which comes with three bedrooms and 0.74 acres of land, for 14 years.
See photos of the home here.
Russell's mom, Judith, simply replied "no comment" as to why they put their family home on the market.
Tamerlan was reportedly seen regularly visiting the residence in Rhode Island with his wife.
Russell, 24, converted to Islam after meeting her husband, and they had a young 3-year-old daughter, Zahara, together.
Reports state that she comes from a middle-class family and that after meeting Tamerlan she had a dramatic change in her life; after converting from Christianity to Islam, she started to wear a hijab.
Russell's parents - Judith, who is a nurse, and Warren, who is a physician - issued a statement following the horrific Boston terror attacks: "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 Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Our hearts are sickened by the knowledge of the horror he has inflicted."
It is now feared that Tamerlan, who had dreamed of becoming a boxer, had in recent years become radicalized, turning to Jihad. Authorities are focusing attention on a 6 month period last year when he visited Russia, and they are interested to find out who he met with and are seeing this as a potential pivotal point in his change.
Tamerlan's brother Dzhokhar was finally captured at about 8.40 p.m. ET on Friday after a massive manhunt locked down most of Boston for the entire day as authorities searched for him. He was eventually found at 76 Franklin St. Watertown, Mass., hiding in a boat in the garden of the residence.
It has since been reported that Tamerlan's YouTube page showed a playlist titled "Terrorists." Those videos are not available from the video sharing site anymore but one song was titled, ''I will dedicate my life to Jihad."
According to Tamerlan's aunt Maret Tsarneva, who has claimed that her nephews have been set up, he only became more devout in recent years: "Maybe 2 years ago he started praying 5 times a day. I don't see anything bad in it. 5 times. You set up the time, you say gratitude words to creator - I would rather him pray than smoking, doing drugs and doing some other unlawful stuff."
The aunt also revealed that his wife had been a devout Christian, but had converted to Islam after meeting Tamerlan.
In a recent press conference, Maret called for additional proof to be made public to show clearly that her nephews were behind the terror attacks. At the moment she refuses to believe that they could have carried out the atrocities and believes they have been set up as scapegoats by the authorities.
Speaking from her Toronto residence she said, "I am a lawyer and there are four of us in the family. I can't lightly accept this kind of accusations without supporting evidence. Forgive me, but I cannot. Could it be staged? I have to question everything. That's my nature."
The aunt did admit though that she hasn't spoken to her nephews in roughly five years.
