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Key Moments From Day 13: GPS Data Links Sale Of Pressure Cookers To Tsarnaev Brothers

Much of testimony Wednesday in the trial of admitted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev focused on how investigators used GPS data to link the sale of pressure cookers in Saugus to the Tsarnaev brothers.

Below find four key moments from Wednesday's testimony, and see all of Wednesday's live coverage here.


-FBI Agent Christopher Derks testified about evidence he recovered from the Norfolk Street apartment shared by the Tsarnaev family in Cambridge.

Prosecutors repeatedly used his testimony to tie Dzhokhar to the residence, pointing out that investigators found his passport and other important documents inside the apartment, as well as some potential bomb making materials.


-FBI Special Agent Christian Fierabend showed the court a GPS map with the movements of a portable GPS device found inside the Mercedes SUV allegedly stolen by the Tsarnaev brothers.

The device, believed to belong to the Tsarnaev brothers, showed multiple stops at the Cambridge apartment where the Tsarnaevs lived in the months before the bombing.

More important was a trip to the Square One Mall in Saugus on January 31, 2013 between 8:12 p.m. and 8:42 p.m. Macy's records indicate that two pressure cookers were sold at 8:38 p.m.


-Fierabend also testified about receipts found in a wallet believed to belong to Tamerlan Tsarnaev — particularly a Target receipt for two backpacks from the day before the bombings. Backpacks of the same brands were later found in tatters near the bombing sites.

Defense attorneys, using a still shot from security footage, showed that Tamerlan purchased the backpacks by himself.

-FBI Agent Heidi Williams was asked to read through various text message conversations taken from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's laptop.

In one conversation, Tsarnaev said of the 2012 presidential election between President Obama and Mitt Romney, "killing Muslims is the only promise they will fulfill," calling Obama the lesser of two evils.

Other conversations appeared to show an openness to jihad. Defense attorney William Fick attempted to combat that by pointing to an earlier conversation where Tsarnaev spoke of his brother Tamerlan's influence — furthering the defense argument that Tamerlan was the driving force behind the bombings.

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Headshot of Jack Lepiarz

Jack Lepiarz Reporter and Anchor
Jack Lepiarz was a reporter and anchor at WBUR.

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