The department issued a press release thanking all those involved in bringing about a resolution to the situation. Here is the text of that release:
"As a result of our public appeal for help, a courageous and compassionate individual came forward to provide the assistance needed to properly bury the deceased. His body is no longer in the City of Worcester and is now entombed. The Police Chief would like to thank all of the officers who worked the security detail at the funeral home and acknowledge their professionalism and dedication. The Chief would also like to acknowledge Mr. Peter Stephan and Mr. Ruslan Tsarni for their cooperation. Deputy Police Chief Steve Sargent deserves recognition for his hard work and logistical coordination. City Clerk David Rushford also assisted by providing important information regarding the burial process. Congress Jim McGovern and his staff for their responsiveness and assistance. Most importantly the Chief thanks the community that provided the burial site. There is no further information at this time."
Meanwhile, Tamerlan Tsarnaev's widow continues to face questions from federal authorities and has hired a criminal lawyer with experience defending terrorism cases.
Katherine Russell added New York lawyer Joshua Dratel to her legal team, her attorney Amato DeLuca said Wednesday. Dratel has represented a number of terrorism suspects in federal courts and military commissions, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detainee David Hicks, who attended an al-Qaida-linked training camp in Afghanistan.
Dratel's "unique, specialized experience" will help ensure that Russell "can assist in the ongoing investigation in the most constructive way possible," DeLuca said in a written statement.
He said Russell, who has not been charged with any crime, will continue to meet with investigators as "part of a series of meetings over many hours where she has answered questions."
Providence-based DeLuca and Miriam Weizenbaum have been representing Russell, who is from Rhode Island. They specialize in civil cases such as personal injury law.
An FBI spokeswoman wouldn't comment when asked Wednesday whether Russell is cooperating. DeLuca has said Russell had no reason to suspect her husband and his brother in the deadly April 15 bombing.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, ethnic Chechen brothers from southern Russia and living in Massachusetts, are accused of planting two shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs near the marathon finish line, killing three people and injuring about 260.
Dzhokhar, who was captured hiding in a tarp-covered boat outside a house in a Boston suburb, was charged with using a weapon of mass destruction to kill. Their mother has said the charges against them are lies.
In Washington, the first in a series of hearings was planned Thursday to review government's initial response to the bombing, what information authorities received about the brothers before the bombings and whether they handled it correctly. The hearing on Capitol Hill comes less than three weeks after Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's arrest.
The FBI and CIA separately received vague warnings from Russia's government in 2011 that Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his mother were religious militants.
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Smith reported from Providence, R.I. Associated Press writers Bridget Murphy and Rodrique Ngowi in Boston, and Arsen Mollayev in Makhachkala, Russia, also contributed to this report.
