The mother of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects could be jailed if she returns to the U.S. to see her hospitalized son, it has been revealed.
Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, who now lives in Dagestan, Russia, is the mother of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who police say detonated two pressure cooker bombs near the finish line of the race, which killed three people and injured more than 200 others.
Tamerlan, 26, was killed in a gunbattle with cops on Friday. Dzhokhar, 19, is in fair condition in a Boston hospital where he is being treated for injuries sustained in the same shootout.
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Mom of the bomb suspects: Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, who now lives in Dagestan, Russia, is the mother of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
Suspects: Dzhokhar, right, and Tamerlan Tsarnaev are accused of planting the Boston bombs last Monday
ABC News reported on Tuesday that Mrs Tsarnaeva failed to show up at a court hearing stemming from a July 2012 arrest for shoplifting.
So if she returns to the U.S. to visit her hospitalized son or make burial arrangements for the other, she could be arrested on an outstanding warrant.
Busted: Mrs Tsarnaeva, 45, was arrested last year after she allegedly stole $1,600 worth of clothing from a Massachusetts Lord & Taylor store
Mrs Tsarnaeva, 45, allegedly stole $1,600 worth of clothes from a Massachusetts Lord & Taylor store.
She was charged with two counts of malicious/wanton damage and defacement to property after allegedly swiping the merchandise from the retailer's Natick, Massachusetts location in June 2012.
She was due in court on October 25 for a hearing in the case, but never showed up.
The Lord & Taylor location is not the same as the one on Boyleston Street in Boston, where a surveillance camera captured what police say is her younger son dropping a pressure cooker bomb that was hidden inside a backpack.
Mrs Tsarnaeva additionally faces questioning by U.S. investigators, who have traveled to Dagestan to speak with her.
On Tuesday, her lawyer said that she watches the video of her dead son's mutilated body and cries.
Zubeidat Tsarnaeva appeared publicly outside her home for the first time since her sons Tamerlan and Dzhokhar were named as suspects.
She was ushered past journalists and into a taxi, which sped away.
U.S. investigators traveled to southern Russia on Tuesday to speak to Mrs Tsarnaeva and her husband Anzor, an American Embassy official said.
Dad: U.S. investigators traveled to southern Russia on Tuesday to speak to Mrs Tsarnaeva and the brothers' father Anzor, pictured, an American Embassy official said
Questioning: Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, mother of Boston bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar, leaves her home for the first time on Tuesday in Dagestan with an unidentified man
Grief: Zubeidat Tsarnaeva outside her home in the predominantly Muslim province in Russia's Caucasus
Agony of 'Bomber's' mother over dead son
Claim: Their mother says that her sons had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks
The family's lawyer Heda Saratova, asked for the family to be left alone and said that the parents had just seen pictures of the mutilated body of their elder son and were not up to speaking with anyone at the moment.
'The mother is in very bad shape,' Saratova said. 'She watches the video [of her dead son] and cries.'
Incredible new images emerged on Tuesday which captured the dramatic gun battle between police and the suspected Boston bombers in a residential street, leaving one brother dead.
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The images, taken by a resident of Watertown, Massachusetts in the early hours of Friday and posted on his blog, appear to show the Tsarnaev brothers sheltering behind a vehicle and taking aim at police officers.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and his brother Tamerlan, 26, are reportedly seen running to a car for more supplies before hauling out a pressure cooker bomb they then detonated, filling the street with smoke.
Battle: The eyewitness said the men ran to the green sedan, left, for more supplies such as explosives
Threat: In another image, a red circle shows what the eyewitness believed to be a pressure cooker bomb
Taken down: As he drove the car, his older brother was taken down by police. His body is circled
The photographs, taken on the eyewitness' phone from a third-floor bedroom overlooking the scene, are the first images giving insight into the fraught battle that left one brother dead.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev then jumped in the car and barreled towards the police barricade, making a narrow escape. Authorities said that he ran over his brother Tamerlan.
Their mother told Channel 4 on Tuesday that her sons had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks.
She said: 'What happened is a terrible thing but I know my kids have nothing to do with this. I know it, I am mother.'
The trip by the U.S. team was made possible because of Russian government cooperation with the FBI investigation into the bombing at the Boston Marathon.
Shielded: Katherine Russell, the widow of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, leaves her lawyer's office on Tuesday
Also on Tuesday, the bombers' sister, Ailena and Bella Tsarnaev, released a statement to the media, saying that they 'don't have the answers' about their brothers' alleged crimes.
The statement read: 'Our heart goes out the victims of last week's bombing. It saddens us to see so many innocent people hurt after such a callous act.
'As a family, we are absolutely devastated by the sense of loss and sorrow this has caused.
'We don't have any answers but we look forward to a thorough investigation and hope to learn more. We ask the media to respect our privacy during this difficult time.'
The embassy official said he could not confirm whether the U.S. investigators had already talked to the parents.
'Naturally, the parents are not ready to meet with anyone because the grief is enormous,' Russian official Zaurbek Sadakhanov told a crowd of journalist in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan.
'They... are asking to be left alone, at least for a while, to be able to recover.
'As to the case, I think that detectives and policemen in the United States are knowledgeable and will find out what happened in an objective and unbiased way.'
An aerial view of the Dagestan capital of Makhachkala, a region which has been marked by insurgent violence
The mother is from Dagestan, while the suspects' father is from neighboring Chechnya.
Their sons had spent little time in either place before the family moved to the U.S. a decade ago, but the elder son was in Russia for six months last year.
The father of the two Boston bombing suspects will apparently travel to the U.S. later this week in order to seek 'justice and the truth'.
Anzor Tsarnaev says he has 'lots of questions for the police' and is keen 'to clear up many things' when he arrives from his home in Makhachkala in Russia.
He had previously said that he would return to America this week in the wake of the death of his elder son Tamerlan and the arrest of 19-year-old Dzhokhar.The suspects' mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaev, added that the family hoped to bring Tamerlan's body back to Russia.