Female DNA was discovered on at least one of the Boston Marathon bombs , though investigators have not yet determined how the DNA got inside the bomb.
Officials have yet to determine whose DNA it is, or whether it means the Boston bombers had help from a woman to carry out their attacks.
There are several possibilities for how a woman’s DNA could have gotten into the Boston Marathon bomb. For example, it could have been deposited by a store clerk who handled materials later placed inside the pressure cooker bomb. It also could have been from a stray hair that ended up inside.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents were spotted leaving the Rhode Island home of Katherine Russell’s parents on Monday. Russell is the widow of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the oldest suspected Boston bomber. Tsarnaev died after a shootout with police four days after the bombings.
An unnamed official familiar with the investigation revealed that agents went to the home on Monday to collect a DNA sample from Russell after days of negotiations. They added that FBI officials have been negotiating with the woman’s attorney to get more access to question her.
The DNA request was apparently needed to determine whether it matched the female DNA found on the bomb remnants. Russell has been staying with her parents since the bombings. FBI agents have frequently been spotted posted outside the home since Tamerlan was identified as one of the suspected bombers.
The woman is one of several people who investigators are interested in as they work to find out if the Tsarnaev brothers had any help reportedly building the bomb, or in the days after the attack happened. Russell’s lawyer has said that the widow is “doing everything she can to assist with the investigation.”
It is not clear when, or if, the FBI will release the results of the DNA tests to determine the identity of the female DNA left on the Boston bombs.