My drive across Maryland takes me 30 miles north of Washington D.C., just north of Bethesda and Rockville. After driving for about an hour, I arrive to the home of Ruslan Tsarni. His surname is the original, Chechen spelling for Tsarnaev.
Ruslan reluctantly invites me into his home, where we sat down for Russian tea, but more importantly, to fill in the details of his life and the lives of his controversial nephews, 19-year-old Dzhokar and 26-year-old Tamerlan: the alleged marathon bombers.
My trip to Maryland comes four weeks after Ruslan visited Massachusetts to solve the bitter stalemate of what to do with Tamerlan Tsarnaev's remains. Ruslan drove his nephew's body to Virginia, where the suspected bomber was buried as demonstrators protested at the cemetery.
"That is their right," Ruslan told me. "I have nothing against them."
Our talk in his middle-class Maryland home lasted for just under two hours. As his wife sat in the kitchen, Ruslan and I started from the beginning.
At the end of World War II, the Tsarnaevs were forcibly relocated from Chechnya to the Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan.
As a trained lawyer, Ruslan moved to the U.S. in 1995, living in Washington state. By the end of the '90s, he moved back to Kyrgyzstan.
Meanwhile, his brother and sister-in-law, Anzor Tsarnaev and Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, were living hours away with their four children, including Tamerlan and Dzhokhar.
When Anzor and his wife fled to the U.S. in 2002, they brought with them just one child, young Dzhokhar. Once here, they applied for political asylum. Tamerlan stayed behind with his uncle Ruslan, who told me Tamerlan was a "wonderful 14-year-old."
In 2003, Ruslan helped arrange for passports for Tamerlan and his two sisters to rejoin their family who, by then, were living in Cambridge.
In the next decade, the Tsarnaev family was in constant transition in the U.S.
I asked Ruslan about everything: from Russia's tips to the FBI and CIA, to the unsolved Waltham triple murders, to the Boston Marathon bombings.
In the end, Ruslan said, 'the greatest thing you can give your family is a good name.'
First, those Russian tips to U.S. law enforcement, warning that Zubeidat and Tamerlan were discussing jihhad: Ruslan told me he believes the FBI was smart not to put much weight in those tips. After all, Ruslan says, if those tips to the U.S. were so critical, why didn’t Russian intelligence arrest or detain the Tsarnaevs while they were in Russia in 2011 and 2012?
Ruslan says it doesn't make sense that hundreds of Dagestanis and Chechens were being picked up, jailed, and tortured but the Tsarnaevs were allowed to roam free?
On the Waltham murders, Ruslan doesn't think Tamerlan was involved. He thinks his nephew bypassed the memorial service of one of his good friends who as killed not because he was involved in the murder, but because Tamerlan was a fundamentalist Muslim who wouldn't be seen at another religion's memorial. Ruslan also thinks Tamerlan went to Russia not to flee a criminal investigation, but to renew his passport.
On the marathon bombings: During the manhunt for Dzhokhar, Ruslan was in his home being interviewed by the FBI. When media arrived outside, Ruslan called on Dzhokhar to turn himself in.
Up until this interview, Ruslan has declined nearly every interview request. He told me the entire episode has had a devastating impact on his family. Ruslan says he's received letters of support from people around the country for denouncing his nephews' actions.
But he now points to more recent fallout: His three daughters, ages 10 to 13, have been teased at school.
Last week, Citibank closed his checking account and line of credit without explanation, even though Ruslan says he has excellent credit and owns a car and his home in a nice neighborhood.
Throughout the interview, the uncle was poised, introspective and outspoken. A large-screen television turned to news played in the background with the volume down. Ruslan's youngest child, who's four, came into the living room several times and smiled at me.
In the end, Ruslan said, “the greatest thing you can give your family is a good name."
Something he's fighting to maintain through this tragedy.
Watch Phillip Martin tell Emily Rooney about his interview with Ruslan Tsarni on "Greater Boston"
