Investigators Find Female DNA on Bomb Used in Boston Attack

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that “[i]nvestigators have found female DNA on at least one of the bombs used in the Boston Marathon attacks.” It is unknown at this time whose DNA it may be “or whether that means a woman helped the two suspects carry out the attacks, according to U.S. officials briefed on the probe.”

Citing “officials familiar with the case” the Journal reported that FBI agents were seen at the Rhode Island home where Katherine Russell Tsarnaeva, widow of Boston bombing ‘Suspect 1’ Tamerlan Tsarnaev, has been staying with her parents since her husband was killed on April 19. The sources told the Journal that the agents had taken DNA samples from her to compare with the female DNA found on the bomb.

The existence of female DNA on the bomb can be explained by several possibilities. For instance, a female store clerk may have handled the materials used in the building of the bomb when they were sold. Alternatively, “a stray hair” may have ended up on the bomb from a female uninvolved in the plot. More ominously, the female DNA could have come from a female who assisted in the construction of the bomb.

“Ms. Russell is one of as many as a half-dozen people in whom investigators are interested as they seek to determine if the brothers had any help in the bomb attack or the days afterward,” according to the Journal.