Police: Boston bombing suspects may have planned NYC 'party'

(CNN) -- Dzkohkhar Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan, allegedly had inflicted pain and carnage by detonating two bombs at the Boston Marathon's finish line. So, days later, what were they going to do next?

According to New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, the brothers' destination may have been New York City and their plan may have been to "party."

The body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, remained unclaimed Wednesday -- less than a week after he died following a shootout with police -- according to Terrel Harris, a spokesman for Massachusetts' chief medical examiner's office. The exact cause of death has not been determined.

But his 19-year-old brother has been talking to authorities from his hospital bed, officials have said.

Kelly, leader of New York police, said information collected from the surviving suspect included "something about a party or having a party."

"It may have been words to the effect of coming 'to party' in New York," Kelly said.

The man who was carjacked and held hostage -- allegedly by the Tsarnaev brothers -- just outside Boston last week said he thought he heard the two men say "Manhattan" in their conversation, the commissioner said. The one-time hostage has told investigators the suspects spoke in another language, which may have been Chechen or Russian, while he drove with them.

Dzkohkhar Tsarnaev was in New York in late 2012, likely in November, Kelly said.

Dzhokhar has told investigators he and his brothers were self-radicalized jihadists, and indicated that his older brother Tamerlan, masterminded last week's deadly bombing, according to a U.S. government source.

The suspects' uncle said a friend of Tamerlan "brainwashed" him. And the suspects' former brother-in-law said Tamerlan seemed to be influenced in Islam by a friend named Misha, but that he did not see Misha try to radicalize his Tamerlan.

Investigators had no immediate comment on reports of someone named "Misha."

Suspects' parents questioned

Authorities looking into what may have led the brothers to turn the joyous Boston Marathon into a scene of carnage nine days ago sought clues on the other side of the world Wednesday.

U.S. and Russian officials questioned the suspects' parents in Makhachkala, Dagestan, all day, according to human rights activist Kheda Saratova, who is in Makhachkala. Saratova said the suspects' mother told her the "conversation" ended Wednesday evening.

The Tsarnaev family lived in the Russian republic of Chechnya but fled from the brutal wars there in the 1990s. The two brothers were born in Kyrgyzstan, and moved at different times to the United States. Their parents now live in Dagestan.

A delegation of FBI agents based at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow arrived in Dagestan, in southern Russia, as part of the investigation, and Russia is cooperating, a U.S. administration official said.

The suspects' mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaev, has previously said she's convinced her boys were framed "just because they were Muslim."

When asked whether she thinks her younger son will get a fair trial, she replied, "Only Allah will know."

Zubeidat Tsarnaev faces three felony charges herself for alleged shoplifting and property damage in Massachusetts in 2012, according to Natick District Court. She jumped bail, and there has been an arrest warrant for her since October, the court's clerk magistrate Brian Kearney said.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev traveled to Russia last year and returned to the United States after six months. Officials have been looking into what he may have done there during that time.

Tamerlan's father has said his son was with him throughout the trip.

"We just had a young person who went to Russia, Chechnya, who blew people up in Boston," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday during a trip to Belgium. "So he didn't (say) where he went, but he learned something where he went, and he came back with a willingness to kill people."

A senior State Department official later clarified that Kerry "was simply expressing broad concern about radicalism rather than indicating any new information or conclusion about the individuals involved."

Boylston Street re-opens as slain officer is mourned

For more than a week, a stretch of Bolyston Street -- traditionally one of the busiest parts of Boston -- has been a crime scene in the aftermath of the blasts that left three dead.

Traffic has been barred from the thoroughfare and businesses have been closed.

Until now.

On Wednesday, workers replaced missing bricks and patched up concrete on the street just before opening it to pedestrian traffic. Crews were repairing damage cause by the two bombs, which were placed near the marathon's finish line.

"I think that Boston is a tough city and it will be rejuvenated and ready to go," said David Sapers, owner of Sugar Heaven on Boylston Street.

Those wounded in the explosions, meanwhile, continued to recover as well.

Of the more than 260 people who were hurt, 39 remain hospitalized Wednesday, according to a CNN tally. One person is in critical condition.

In Cambridge, mourners gathered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus to honor Campus Officer Sean Collier, the fourth person killed last week. Authorities believe the Tsarnaev brothers shot Collier as he sat in his patrol car Thursday night.

Suspects received welfare

The Massachusetts government said Wednesday that, while they hadn't gotten assistance this year, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had received welfare benefits in the past.

"The Tsarnaevs' parents are former recipients of transitional assistance benefits, and both Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev received benefits through their parents when they were younger," Massachusetts' Department of Health and Human Services said. "Separately, Tamerlan and his family received benefits until 2012, when the family became ineligible based on their income."

Tamerlan was married and had a young daughter.

His brother Dzhokhar has been charged with using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death, as well as one count of malicious destruction of property by means of an explosive device resulting in death.

The teenager has been communicating in a limited fashion from a Massachusetts hospital where he in fair condition, recovering from gunshot wounds.

He cited the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as motivating factors behind the attack, a U.S. government official said.

Dzhokhar told authorities that neither he nor his brother had any contact with terrorist groups overseas, the U.S. government official said. But the official cautioned that the interviews were preliminary and that Tsarnaev's account needs to be checked out.