SALON

Monday, Apr 29, 2013 4:00 PM UTC

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev scrubbed online presence before bombings

According to family friends, the bombing suspect deleted his Instagram account two weeks prior to the attacks

By

Topics: the daily dot, Boston Marathon, Boston Bombings, CNN, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, ,

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev scrubbed online presence before bombingsDzhokar Tsarnaev (Credit: FBI)
This article originally appeared on The Daily Dot.

The Daily Dot Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had an Instagram account he deleted before the attacks took place two weeks ago, according to friends.

Tsarnaev apparently used the account, @jmaister1, to like a photo of a deceased Chechen warlord. He also liked photos that used hashtags such as #FreeChechenia, #Jihad, #Jannah, #ALLAH, #Jesus, and #God.

While the account is gone, CNN was able to find some of the content posted to it using archiving tools like Google’s Web cache.

In its Terms of Service, Instagram says that if subpoenaed, it will turn over users’ information. However, it notes that the information might only be stored for a short time due to the volume of content that floods the service.

Investigators surely hope the Instagram profile will help paint a more complete picture of a man accused along with his brother of carrying out violent attacks that shook the Boston area this month.

Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev were the main suspects in the bombings in which three people died and more than 170 were injured on April 15.

Tamerlan died a few days later in a shootout with police. A few hours before, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer was found shot dead while another officer was critically injured. Dzhokhar was apprehended late Friday after residents of the Boston area suffered a day-long lockdown.

The social media accounts of the brothers have helped paint a picture of their lives as investigators try to determine why and how they allegedly carried out the attacks.

Dzhokhar’s Twitter account and profile on Russian social network vKontakte have been unearthed so far. A comprehensive photo essay and a YouTube account provides some background on Tamerlan.

More The Daily Dot

More Kris Holt.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • This photo. President Barack Obama has a laugh during the unveiling of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Tx., Thursday. Former first lady Barbara Bush, who candidly admitted this week we've had enough Bushes in the White House, is unamused.
    Reuters/Jason Reed

  • Rescue workers converge Wednesday in Savar, Bangladesh, where the collapse of a garment building killed more than 300. Factory owners had ignored police orders to vacate the work site the day before.
    AP/A.M. Ahad

  • Police gather Wednesday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to honor campus officer Sean Collier, who was allegedly killed in a shootout with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects last week.
    AP/Elise Amendola

  • Police tape closes the site of a car bomb that targeted the French embassy in Libya Tuesday. The explosion wounded two French guards and caused extensive damage to Tripoli's upscale al-Andalus neighborhood.
    AP/Abdul Majeed Forjani

  • Protestors rage outside the residence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday following the rape of a 5-year-old girl in New Delhi. The girl was allegedly kidnapped and tortured before being abandoned in a locked room for two days.
    AP/Manish Swarup

  • Clarksville, Mo., residents sit in a life boat Monday after a Mississippi River flooding, the 13th worst on record.
    AP/Jeff Roberson

  • Workers pause Wednesday for a memorial service at the site of the West, Tx., fertilizer plant explosion, which killed 14 people and left a crater more than 90 feet wide.
    AP/The San Antonio Express-News, Tom Reel

  • Aerial footage of the devastation following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province last Saturday. At least 180 people were killed and as many as 11,000 injured in the quake.
    AP/Liu Yinghua

  • On Wednesday, Hazmat-suited federal authorities search a martial arts studio in Tupelo, Miss., once operated by Everett Dutschke, the newest lead in the increasingly twisty ricin case. Last week, President Barack Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker, R.-Miss., and a Mississippi judge were each sent letters laced with the deadly poison.
    AP/Rogelio V. Solis

  • The lighting of Freedom Hall at the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday is celebrated with (what else but) red, white and blue fireworks.
    AP/David J. Phillip

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 1 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username - log out

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

Salon is proud to feature content from The Daily Dot, a paper of record for the World Wide Web reporting on the important and relevant topics for online communities.

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Would we give up burgers to stop climate change? New study suggests if we reduce our intake of animal products by 25%, we can halt climate change
391 points392 points | 132 comments
vote
Facebook has been used to find ex-lovers, childhood BFFs or the one who got away. He used it to find the guy who, without his consent, made him his drug mule.
224 points225 points | 21 comments
vote
“This could be a career ender for Michele Bachmann”
131 points132 points | 53 comments
vote
Poll: 3 in 10 voters say “armed revolution might be necessary” - 29% say they believe they'll have to act "in order to protect our liberties" in the next few years
46 points47 points | 16 comments
vote
Capitalism, not feminism, killed home cooking–and fixing our broken food system is gonna take a lot more than some privileged women embracing “new domesticity”
34 points35 points | 19 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: "The Shelter Cycle": Raised in a cult

Recommendations