Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told his interrogators the weekend after he was arrested that he and his brother originally intended to set off their bombs somewhere on the Fourth of July, officials say.
NBC News' Pete Williams is reporting that the officials say the younger brother said that when the brothers finished the bombs sooner than they expected to, they decided to stage an attack earlier and decided on the Boston Marathon, on Patriot's Day.
Officials say Tsarnaev also said the bombs were built in the house of his brother, Tamerlan. Authorities had previously disclosed that explosive residue had been found there.
The Massachusetts Medical Examiner’s Office says the body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was moved to a funeral home on Thursday evening at the request of family members.
The funeral home must file a death certificate, which would make public Tsarnaev’s cause of death.
He was killed in a firefight with police in the early morning hours of April 19 in the Boston suburb of Watertown. His precise cause of death has remained unknown, since a death certificate or autopsy results have not been made public. He was reported to be wearing an explosive device when he fell; reports also say his brother Dzhokhar ran over him when the younger brother was escaping in an S.U.V.
The name of the family members who requested the release of the body and the funeral home were not released.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is in a prison hospital awaiting trial on terrorism charges.