LISTEN: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev tells mother he's well-fed, receiving money
Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev talks to his mother, Zubeidat, for the first time since the April 15 terror attack. She, in turn, shared a recording of that conversation.
Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is eating well and making money while he sits in a federal medical detention center awaiting trial, he told his mother in the first recording of his voice released since the April 15 terror attack.
In the only conversation he's had with his mother since his arrest, Tsarnaev reassures Zubeidat Tsarnaeva he's being fed well, chicken and rice, and is stacking cash — unsolicited — as people send money to support him, the United Kingdom's Channel 4 reported.
"He said, 'Mama, do not worry about me, I do have money, somebody opened an account for me, and people do send me money here, and I do have lots of money,'" the suspected terrorist's mother recounted.
He told her he has raised a thousand dollars, Zubediat said with a laugh. That's in addition to the $8,000 Zubeidat and her husband, Anzor Tsarnaev, have raised for the teen's defense fund.
The native Chechens, who live in Makhachkala, Dagestan have had one phone conversation so far with their surviving son.
"Everything is good, please don't say anything," the 19-year-old suspect said last week to his emotional mother, who cried as she played the recording for the news channel, which translated the conversation from Russian.
It's unclear if Dzhokhar was trying to reassure his distraught mother — or asking her to clam up to law enforcement and media.