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Boston Bombing Suspect's Family Wants Second Autopsy
By
Jen Chung
Published May 4, 2013
Modified May 4, 2013
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CNN
By
Jen Chung
Published May 4, 2013
Modified May 4, 2013
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The Massachusetts medical examiner's office issued the death certificate for Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, stating that he died from "gunshot wounds to the torso and extremities and from blunt trauma to the head and torso."
Tsarnaev, 26, was caught and died from police gunfire in the early hours of April 19. Also, the certificate says he was run over and dragged by a car—police say that his younger brother and fellow bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev drove over his brother's body while trying to get away from police. Dzhokhar was caught on the night of April 19.
A Tsarnaev family spokesperson tells CNN that they have requested a second independent autopsy. It's unclear what they are hoping to find, but the brothers' parents have insisted their sons were not involved. But it was recently reported that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, told the FBI that he and his brother had originally planned to strike on July 4th (and considered suicide attacks) but decided to target the Boston Marathon instead after making bombs from pressure cookers.
The funeral home handling Tamerlan Tsarnaev's body is having difficulty finding a burial location, with many cemeteries concerned about reprisal. Funeral home owner Peter Stefan said, ‘"My problem here is trying to find a gravesite. A lot of people don’t want to do it. They don’t want to be involved with this. I keep bringing up the point of Lee Harvey Oswald, Timothy McVeigh or Ted Bundy. Somebody had to do those, too." Stefan will ask the government to find a burial site if none can be found.
In the meantime, "al-Qaeda’s Inspire magazine and other radical Islamist material" have reportedly been found on the computer of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife, Katherine Russell. Her lawyer has previously claimed she knew nothing of the plot and he emphasized that she worked 70-80 hours a week as a home health care aide while her husband cared for their child at home.
The FBI says that Tamerlan Tsarnaev called his wife after the agency released photographs of him and his brother as suspects in the bombing, but Russell has stopped cooperating with the FBI.
The Times has a long feature about Russell's transformation from "social butterfly" from a comfortable upbringing to a woman so in love with a boxer from Cambridge that she converted to Islam and struggled wit her husband, living on public assistance at times. A relative said, "I think she believes in Islam. I don’t think she was coerced. I think she’s faithful to the religion."
Tagged
boston marathon
boston marathon bombing
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
katherine russell
tamerlan tsarnaev
terorrism
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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