Armstrong May Testify Under Oath on Doping

Facing a federal criminal investigation and a deadline that originally was tonight to tell all under oath to anti-doping authorities or lose his last chance at reducing his lifetime sporting ban, Lance Armstrong now may cooperate.

His apparent 11th-hour about-face, according to the U.S. Anti Doping Agency (USADA), suggests he might testify under oath and give full details to USADA of how he cheated for so long.

"We have been in communication with Mr. Armstrong and his representatives and we understand that he does want to be part of the solution and assist in the effort to clean up the sport of cycling," USADA CEO Travis T. Tygart said in a written statement this evening. "We have agreed to his request for an additional two weeks to work on details to hopefully allow for this to happen."

Neither Armstrong nor his attorney responded to emails seeking comment on the USADA announcement.

The news of Armstrong's possible and unexpected cooperation came a day after ABC News reported he was in the crosshairs of federal criminal investigators. According to a high-level source, "agents are actively investigating Armstrong for obstruction, witness tampering and intimidation" for allegedly threatening people who dared tell the truth about his cheating.

Lance Armstrong Under Criminal Investigation Watch Video

Lance Armstrong Breaks Down: Question Pushes Cyclist to Brink Watch Video

Lance Armstrong Shows His Emotional Side With Oprah Winfrey Watch Video

The case was re-ignited by Armstrong's confession last month to Oprah Winfrey that he doped his way to all seven of his Tour de France titles, telling Winfrey he used performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career and then lied about it. He made the confession after years of vehement denials that he cheated.

READ MORE: Armstrong Admits to Doping

READ MORE: Lance Armstrong May Have Lied to Winfrey: Investigators

WATCH: Armstrong's Many Denials Caught on Tape

If charges are ultimately filed, the consequences of "serious potential crimes" could be severe, ABC News legal analyst Dan Abrams said -- including "possible sentences up to five, 10 years."

Investigators are not concerned with the drug use, but Armstrong's behavior in trying to maintain his secret by allegedly threatening and interfering with potential witnesses.

Armstrong was previously under a separate federal investigation that reportedly looked at drug distribution, conspiracy and fraud allegations -- but that case was dropped without explanation a year ago. Sources at the time said that agents had recommended an indictment and could not understand why the case was suddenly dropped.

"There were plenty of people, even within federal law enforcement, who felt like he was getting preferential treatment," said T.J. Quinn, an investigative reporter with ESPN.

The pressures against Armstrong today are immense and include civil claims that could cost him tens of millions of dollars.

Armstrong is currently serving a lifetime ban in sport handed down by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, and today was the deadline he was given to cooperate under oath if he ever wanted the ban lifted.

READ MORE: 10 Scandalous Public Confessions

PHOTOS: Olympic Doping Scandals: Past and Present

PHOTOS: Tour de France 2012

ABC News' Michael S. James contributed to this report.

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Today on New Scientist: 5 February 2013

Engineering light: Pull an image from nowhere

A new generation of lenses could bring us better lighting, anti-forgery technology and novel movie projectors

Baby boomers' health worse than their parents

Americans who were born in the wake of the second world war have poorer health than the previous generation at the same age

New 17-million-digit monster is largest known prime

A distributed computing project called GIMPS has found a record-breaking prime number, the first for four years

Cellular signals used to make national rainfall map

The slight weakening of microwave signals caused by reflections off raindrops can be exploited to keep tabs on precipitation

NASA spy telescopes won't be looking at Earth

A Mars orbiter and an exoplanet photographer are among proposals being presented today for how to use two second-hand spy satellites that NASA's been given

China gets the blame for media hacking spree

The big US newspapers and Twitter all revealed last week that they were hacked - and many were quick to blame China. But where's the proof?

Nobel-winning US energy secretary steps down

Steven Chu laid the groundwork for government-backed renewable energy projects - his successor must make a better case for them

Sleep and dreaming: Where do our minds go at night?

We are beginning to understand how our brains shape our dreams, and why they contain such an eerie mixture of the familiar and the bizarre

Beating heart of a quantum time machine exposed

This super-accurate timekeeper is an optical atomic clock and its tick is governed by a single ion of the element strontium

A life spent fighting fair about the roots of violence

Despite the fierce conflicts experienced living among anthropologists, science steals the show in Napoleon Chagnon's autobiography Noble Savages

Challenge unscientific thinking, whatever its source

Science may lean to the left, but that's no reason to give progressives who reject it a "free pass"

Need an organ? Just print some stem cells in 3D

Printing blobs of human embryonic stem cells could allow us to grow organs without scaffolds

Ice-age art hints at birth of modern mind

An exhibition of ice-age art at London's British Museum shows astonishing and enigmatic creativity

Read More..

911 call: 'He says he killed two guys'

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Bodies were found "lying on the ground, covered in blood"


• The ex-Marine faces murder charges in deaths of veterans Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield


• Routh's family called cops in 2012; he was mad because his father planned to sell his gun


• "He told me that he's committed a murder," sister of suspect tells 911 operator

(CNN) -- The 911 caller, her voice quavering, says she's terrified because of what her brother had just told her.

"He says that he killed two guys. They went out to a shooting range. Like, he's all crazy ..."

Those recorded words from the sister of Eddie Ray Routh gave Texas authorities one of their first indications Saturday of death at an isolated shooting range.

Routh, who was arrested hours after the call, is facing murder charges in the deaths of a military sniper and another military veteran.

Officials say Routh killed his fellow veterans on a gun range in a remote section of Rough Creek Lodge and Resort, which sprawls across 11,000 acres in Glen Rose, Texas, 90 minutes southwest of Dallas-Fort Worth.

The Saturday afternoon call from Routh's sister, Laura Blevins, came from her home in Midlothian, some 30 miles southeast of Fort Worth, after Routh, she said, had come to visit her and her husband.

"He's left now, but he told me that he's committed a murder, and I'm terrified for my life because I don't know if he's going to come back here," Blevins says in the call, her words spilling out in a torrent of worry. "I don't know if he's being honest with me."

Asked for detail, she says, "He says that he killed two guys. They went out to a shooting range. Like, he's all crazy. He's f****** psychotic. I'm sorry for my language. I don't know if he's on drugs or not."

In the recording of the call released Tuesday by the Midlothian Police Department, Blevins, saying she is nervous, hands the phone to her husband, Gaines.

"He said he killed two guys at a shooting range," Gaines Blevins says. "He took one of the trucks, like a dark blue or maybe black F-250. He drove off. I'm not sure where he is right now."

The man says that Routh told him he had two guns in the Ford pickup truck. Though the 25-year-old Routh had not threatened the couple, "he was talking kinda babble."

Asked whether Routh had been known to drink or take drugs, Gaines Blevins said, "Yeah, he's been known to drink in the past -- and smoke pot."

The speaker adds that Routh, an ex-Marine, had recently been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, "and he's been acting a little weird from that," and that he had left Green Oaks psychiatric hospital in Dallas the week before.

The release of the 911 tape came a day after Erath County Sheriff Tommy Bryant said Routh was under 24-hour surveillance on suicide watch in a central Texas jail.

Bryant has said Routh served for four years in the military, though it was unclear how much of that time, if any, was in combat zones.

Shay Isham, a lawyer appointed to represent Routh, has said his client had spent roughly the last two years in and out in Veteran Affairs medical facilities for treatment of mental issues.

Last September 2, Routh was crying, shirtless, shoeless and smelling of alcohol when police caught up with him walking the streets of his hometown of Lancaster, Texas.

His family didn't understand what the Marine veteran was going through, he told the officer, according to a police report.

He was taken then to a hospital for a mental evaluation and placed in protective custody after he had become angry that his father was going to sell his gun. His mother told police he had threatened to "blow his brains out."

This was, Bryant said, after Routh's mother "may have reached out to" one of the victims -- Chris Kyle, author of the best-selling book "American Sniper" -- "to try and help her son."

The suspect is "a troubled veteran whom they were trying to help," said Craft International, a company founded by Kyle, who had tried to help veterans with PTSD since he retired from the Navy in 2009.

Routh, Kyle and his friend, Chad Littlefield, entered the resort and headed toward a gun range at 3:15 p.m. (4:15 p.m. ET) Saturday, according to authorities.

Marcus Luttrell told CNN that Kyle, his friend, had gone to help Routh get "out of the house (and) blow off some steam."

Around 5 p.m. Saturday, a hunting guide alerted authorities Kyle's and Littlefield's bodies had been discovered "lying on the ground, covered in blood," according to an affidavit for the search warrant for Routh's house.

By then, Routh allegedly had taken off in Kyle's black Ford pickup, stopping first at his sister's house about 70 miles away.

Gaines Blevins said his brother-in-law said "he'd traded his soul for a new truck and that he murdered two people," the affidavit says. "He said they were out shooting target practice and he couldn't trust them so he killed them before they could kill him. He said he couldn't trust anyone anymore; everyone was out to get him."

Laura Blevins told her brother that if what he was saying was true, "he needed to turn hisself in," it adds.

But Routh set off again.

At about 8 p.m., police caught up with him near his home in Lancaster, about 15 miles south of Dallas, and took him into custody.

The motive for the killings was unclear

Routh "is the only one that knows," Erath County Sheriff's Capt. Jason Upshaw told reporters on Sunday. "I don't know that we'll ever know."

CNN's Tom Watkins, Ed Lavandera, Josh Levs, Susan Candiotti, AnneClaire Stapleton, Barbara Starr, Emily Smith and Nick Valencia contributed to this report.

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Sandy storm victims react to proposed home buyout

(CBS News) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - One hundred days ago, the Northeast was hit by a left hook from superstorm Sandy.

This week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed spending $400 million to buy up and demolish thousands of those homes, so the property can be turned back into wetlands.

Homeowners have mixed feelings about the proposal.

For 11 years, Joe Monte worked two jobs and spent weekends renovating his Staten Island home. Weeks after he finished last fall, superstorm Sandy swept eight feet of water inside.

"I came into the house with paper towels and some Fantastic, and I stood in the middle of the room and called my wife and I told my wife, 'There's nothing to clean here, there's nothing to do. It's done,'" Monte said.

A picture of a house heavily damaged by superstorm Sandy on Staten Island, 100 days after the storm hit.

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CBS News

Monte welcomes Cuomo's proposal to buy up properties like his in flood-prone areas.

"This isn't my dream, the poison that's in this home, the destruction that took this neighborhood. How could you even stay here?" he said. "How could you even live in this neighborhood?"

100 days post-Sandy, N.Y. Gov. Cuomo wants some areas emptied
Romney camp wrote big check to Red Cross
Watch: Senate passes $50 billion Sandy relief aid bill

But about 30 miles away in Long Beach, N.Y., Fran Adelson plans to stay and rebuild. She, too, lost almost everything in the storm.

"We live here. This is where our homes are, this is where our children were raised, this is where our families are, this is where the businesses that we go to are," she said.

Fran Adelson

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CBS News

She believes the governor should be looking at ways to help people stay in their communities.

"We would rather see Cuomo spend the money on helping us rebuild than offering to buy people's property," Adelson said.

But Joe Monte says he's had enough. He's walking away.

"I hate that I lost neighbors in my neighborhood," he said. "Three people died in this neighborhood. I hate everything about it. I could never come back here ever again."

Gov. Cuomo's buyout proposal still has to be approved by the federal government. If it is approved, the governor's office says they won't force people to sell their property -- but those who do decide to stay would be offered grants to rebuild their homes.

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Lance Armstrong Under Criminal Investigation

Federal investigators are in the midst of an active criminal investigation of disgraced former Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, ABC News has learned.

The revelation comes in stark contrast to statements made by the U.S. Attorney for Southern California, Andre Birotte, who addressed his own criminal inquiry of Armstrong for the first time publicly on Tuesday. Birotte's office spent nearly two years investigating Armstrong for crimes reportedly including drug distribution, fraud and conspiracy -- only to suddenly drop the case on the Friday before the Super Bowl last year.

Sources at the time said that agents had recommended an indictment and could not understand why the case was suddenly dropped.

Today, a high level source told ABC News, "Birotte does not speak for the federal government as a whole."

According to the source, who agreed to speak on the condition that his name and position were not used because of the sensitivity of the matter, "Agents are actively investigating Armstrong for obstruction, witness tampering and intimidation."

An email to an attorney for Armstrong was not immediately returned.

READ MORE: Lance Armstrong May Have Lied to Winfrey: Investigators

AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski, File

Lance Armstrong Shows His Emotional Side With Oprah Winfrey Watch Video

Cyclist Lance Armstrong: Bombshell Confession Watch Video

Lance Armstrong-Winfrey Interview: Doping Confession Watch Video

Earlier Tuesday, during a Department of Justice news conference on another matter, Birotte was confronted with the Armstrong question unexpectedly. The following is a transcript of that exchange:

Q: Mr. Birotte, given the confession of Lance Armstrong to all the things --

Birotte: (Off mic.)

Q: -- to all thethings that you, in the end, decided you couldn't bring a case about, can you give us your thoughts on that case now and whether you might take another look at it?

Birotte: We made a decision on that case, I believe, a little over a year ago. Obviously we've been well-aware of the statements that have been made by Mr. Armstrong and other media reports. That has not changed my view at this time. Obviously, we'll consider, we'll continue to look at the situation, but that hasn't changed our view as I stand here today.

The source said that Birotte is not in the loop on the current criminal inquiry, which is being run out of another office.

Armstrong confessed to lying and using performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.

READ MORE: Armstrong Admits to Doping

WATCH: Armstrong's Many Denials Caught on Tape

READ MORE: 10 Scandalous Public Confessions

Investigators are not concerned with the drug use, but Armstrong's behavior in trying to maintain his secret by allegedly threatening and interfering with potential witnesses.

Armstrong is currently serving a lifetime ban in sport handed down by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. He has been given a Feb. 6 deadline to tell all under oath to investigators or lose his last chance at a possible break on the lifetime ban.

PHOTOS: Olympic Doping Scandals: Past and Present

PHOTOS: Tour de France 2012

Read More..

Challenge unscientific thinking, whatever its source

Science may lean to the left, but that’s no reason to give progressives who reject it a “free pass”

IF SCIENCE could vote, who would it vote for? Ask scientists, and a clear answer comes back: science leans to the left.

A 2009 survey conducted by Pew Research in the US found that 52 per cent of scientists identified themselves as liberal, and slightly more believed the scientific community as a whole leaned that way. The corresponding figures for conservatism? Just 9 per cent and 2 per cent respectively.

This association between science and left-leaning politics can only have been reinforced by the disdain with which vocal right-wing politicians, particularly in the US, have treated scientific evidence in recent years. That contrasts with the Obama administration's endorsement of it - although words always come more readily than actions (see "How Obama will deliver his climate promise").

Certainly, some conservatives conspicuously reject those parts of science that clash with their world views - notably evolution, climate change and stem cell research. But this doesn't mean those on the left are automatically and unimpeachably pro-science. In "Lefty nonsense: When progressives wage war on reason", Alex Berezow and Hank Campbell put forward their view that unscientific causes and concerns are just as rife among progressives as conservatives. Conservatives may sometimes be blinkered by their enthusiasm for what they see as moral rectitude, but progressives can be overcome by "back to nature" sentiments on, say, food or the environment.

Berezow and Campbell further claim that progressives who endorse unscientific ideas get a "free pass" from the scientific community. The suspicion must be that this is because scientists themselves lean towards the left, as does the media that covers them. (Both friends and critics of New Scientist tell us we lean in that direction.)

Is there any substance to that suspicion? We should go to every possible length to ensure there isn't. Unreason of any hue is dangerous; any suggestion of bias only makes it harder to overcome. Science and liberalism are natural allies, but only in the literal sense of liberalism as the pursuit of freedom. That means freedom of thought, freedom of speech and, above all, freedom from ideology - wherever on the political spectrum it comes from.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.

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"Promoting marriage & parenthood" central to keeping S'porean core

SINGAPORE: Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Grace Fu has spoken about what it means by keeping the Singaporean core at the heart of the country's population policies.

She made the comments on day two of the parliamentary debate on the White Paper on Population and Land Use Plan.

Ms Fu said promoting marriage and parenthood is central to maintaining a strong Singaporean core.

And allowing immigration does not mean the government takes its marriage and parenthood objectives less seriously.

But authorities are realistic about how birth rates can improve. Hence the need to supplement the population with a calibrated pace of immigrants.

On concerns over the loss of the Singaporean identity with more foreigners in the midst, Ms Fu said integration efforts are a critical complement to the immigration policy and important in strengthening the Singaporean core.

Ms Fu added that integration efforts are being stepped up.

"In our deliberations on what is the best way forward for Singapore, Singaporeans were at the heart of our considerations, and a strong Singaporean core was our objective. What does this mean?

"In my view, a strong Singaporean core is one where Singaporeans have a sense of well-being and belonging in a place where we can all call 'home'.

"Well-being comes both from the tangibles - having fulfilling jobs and a good quality living environment - as well as the intangibles - strong supportive families, values that connect us and a collective hope for a brighter future."

- CNA/ir

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Police: Suspect said he had PTSD

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Routh told his sister he'd killed two men, "traded his soul for a truck," an arrest warrant says


• The ex-Marine faces murder charges in deaths of veterans Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield


• Routh's family called cops in 2012; he was mad because his father planned to sell his gun


• The 25-year-old told police he had PTSD, was hurting and his family didn't understand

Read a version of this story in Arabic.

(CNN) -- Eddie Ray Routh was crying, shirtless, shoeless and smelling of alcohol when police caught up with him walking the streets of his hometown of Lancaster, Texas.

His family didn't understand what he -- a Marine veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder -- was going through, he told the officer last September 2, according to a police report.

He had a simple message that was as much a plea as it was a complaint: I'm hurting.

That visit -- which came after Routh, angry that his father was going to sell his gun, left the house and threatened, his mother told police, to "blow his brains out" -- prompted him to be placed in protective custody and sent to Dallas' Green Oaks Hospital for a mental evaluation.

Six months later, the 25-year-old Routh is in custody once again -- this time in a central Texas jail, facing murder charges in the deaths of America's self-proclaimed most deadly military sniper ever as well as another military veteran.

He is on a suicide watch and under 24-hour camera surveillance, Erath County Sheriff Tommy Bryant said Monday.

And he's already run into further trouble, becoming aggressive with guards in his cell after refusing to give up a spork and dinner tray Sunday night, according to the sheriff.

So who is Eddie Ray Routh?

Bryant has said Routh was in the Marines for four years, though it is unclear how much of that time, if any, was in combat zones. Shay Isham, a lawyer appointed by a judge Monday morning to represent Routh, said his client spent roughly the last two years in and out in Veteran Affairs medical facilities for treatment of mental issues.

His personal history and psychological make-up has come under the spotlight after the bloodshed Saturday.

It was then, officials say, Routh killed his two fellow veterans on a gun range located in a remote part of the Rough Creek Lodge and Resort's vast 11,000 acres.

This was, Bryant said, after Routh's mother "may have reached out to" one of the victims -- Chris Kyle, author of the best-selling book "American Sniper" -- "to try and help her son."

The suspect was "a troubled veteran whom they were trying to help," said Craft International, a company founded by Kyle, who since retiring from the Navy in 2009 had sought to assist ex-troops with PTSD.

Why might Routh have killed these men? He "is the only one that knows," Erath County Sheriff's Capt. Jason Upshaw told reporters on Sunday.

"I don't know that we'll ever know," Upshaw said.

Victims hailed as dedicated, caring patriots

No one else saw the shooting of Kyle and his friend, Chad Littlefield, according to Upshaw.

It occurred sometime after 3:15 p.m. (4:15 p.m. ET) Saturday, when all three men together entered the expansive resort in Glen Rose, some 70 miles southwest of Fort Worth, and headed toward a gun range.

Marcus Luttrell told CNN that Kyle, his friend, had gone to help Routh get "out of the house (and) blow off some steam." Another Kyle friend, former SEAL sniper program instructor Brandon Webb, explained that a range was a "familiar environment" for "military guys."

Around 5 p.m. Saturday, a hunting guide alerted authorities Kyle and Littlefield's bodies had been discovered "lying on the ground, covered in blood," according to Routh's arrest warrant, which was posted on CNN affiliate WFAA's website.

By then, Routh had taken off in Kyle's black Ford pickup, stopping first at his sister's house about 70 miles away in Midlothian. There, he told his sister and brother-in-law what he had done, telling them he had "traded his soul for a truck," the arrest warrant said.

He set off again.

Police finally caught up with Routh near his home in Lancaster, about 15 miles south of Dallas, around 8 p.m. Saturday. Despite a swarm of law enforcement, he managed to speed off in the truck -- but after spiking his tires, authorities were able to detain him without a scuffle by 9 p.m., Bryant said.

The story got intense, widespread attention in large part due to the victims, especially Kyle.

While serving as a sniper in Iraq, the Navy SEAL wrote he personally had 160 confirmed kills from a distance of up to 2,100 feet -- more than any other U.S. serviceman, in any conflict. This helped led Iraqi insurgents to nickname the 6-foot-2, 220-pound Texan "the devil" and put a bounty on his head, he said.

In interviews promoting his book, Kyle offered no regrets,

"I had to do it to protect the Marines," he told Time magazine a year ago. "You want to lose your own guys, or would you rather take one of them out?"

After his retirement from a decade's service in the Navy, Kyle became a businessman, a reality TV personalty, a supporter of fellow vets, an avid hunter and an outspoken opponent of gun control. He leaves behind a wife and two children.

His new ventures included joining other former SEALs in starting Craft International, a security company with the motto "Despite what your momma told you, violence does solve problems."

He also helped established the FITCO Cares foundation, a charity that helps U.S. war vets "who have survived combat but are still fighting to survive post-traumatic stress disorder," the group's website said.

Thousands pledged to toast him and Littlefield on Monday night, and hundreds expressed condolences on Kyle's Facebook fan page.

"Chris, thank you for your service; not only to the country you loved, but also to your fellow warriors that needed a helping hand," one woman wrote. "Rest in peace brave hero, patriot and warrior. You are missed."

The Facebook page also included a tribute to Littlefield, who the page's administrator wrote "felt deeply about the values of family, compassion, friendship and loyalty, and was equally as passionate about his love of God and country."

"Chad, thank you for your love for your country, the dedication to your country and your love for life," a woman said. "God has brought another angel home."

Chris Kyle, America's deadliest sniper

CNN's Ed Lavandera, Josh Levs, Susan Candiotti, AnneClaire Stapleton, Barbara Starr, Emily Smith and Nick Valencia contributed to this report.

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Signs of runaway heat seen in Dreamliner batteries

TOKYO An investigation into a lithium ion battery that overheated on a Boeing 787 flight in Japan last month found evidence of the same type of "thermal runaway" seen in a similar incident in Boston, officials said Tuesday.

The Japan Transportation Safety Board said that CAT scans and other analysis found damage to all eight cells in the battery that overheated on the All Nippon Airways 787 on Jan. 16, which prompted an emergency landing and probes by both U.S. and Japanese aviation safety regulators.

They also found signs of short-circuiting and "thermal runaway," a chemical reaction in which rising temperature causes progressively hotter temperatures. U.S. investigators found similar evidence in the battery that caught fire last month on a Japan Airlines 787 parked in Boston.

Photos distributed by the Japanese investigators show severe charring of six of the eight cells in the ANA 787's battery and a frayed and broken earthing wire — meant to minimize the risk of electric shock.

All 50 Boeing 787s in operation are grounded as regulators and Boeing investigate the problem. The Japanese probe is focusing on flight data records and on the charger and other electrical systems connected to the damaged battery.

Lithium ion batteries are more susceptible to catching fire when they overheat or to short-circuit than other types of batteries. Boeing built in safeguards to gain safety certification for use of the relatively light and powerful batteries to power various electrical systems on the 787, the world's first airliner made mostly from lightweight composite materials.

Investigators earlier said they found no evidence of quality problems with production of the 787's batteries by Kyoto, Japan-based, GS Yuasa, whose own aerospace ambitions are on the line.

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Sarai Sierra's 2 Young Boys Don't Know Mom's Dead

The two young sons of slain New York mom Sarai Sierra are under the impression that their father has gone to Turkey to bring their mother home - alive.

Sierra, whose battered body was found near a highway in Istanbul over the weekend, was the mother of two boys aged 9 and 11.

Steven Sierra, who went to Istanbul in search of his wife after she disappeared nearly two weeks ago, told his children that he was going to Turkey to bring their mom home.

"The father will be speaking to them and it's something that's going to be hard and he's going to be talking to them when he comes back," Betsy Jimenez, the mother of Sarai Sierra, said today during a family news conference.

State Representative Michael Grimm said Steven Sierra's biggest concern is telling his children that mom's not coming home.

"It's going to be the hardest thing he's ever going to have to do in his life," said Grimm, who added that the Staten Island family isn't sure when Steven Sierra will be able to bring home his wife's body.

An autopsy was completed Sunday on Sarai Sierra, 33, but results aren't expected for three months. Turkish officials however said she was killed by at least one fatal blow to her head.

A casket holding the Staten Island mother was carried through alleyways lined with spice and food stalls to a church, where the casket remained on Monday.

Turkish police hope DNA samples from 21 people being questioned in the case will be key to finding the perpetrators, the Associated Press reported, according to state run media.

Sarai Sierra's Body Found: Missing New York Mom Found in Turkey Watch Video

Body Found in Search for Missing Mother in Turkey Watch Video

Vanished Abroad: US Woman Missing in Turkey Watch Video

Earlier this week, it was also reported that Turkish police are speaking to a local man who was supposed to meet Sierra the day she disappeared, but he said she never showed.

After an intense search for Sierra that lasted nearly two weeks, her body was found Saturday near the ruins of some ancient city walls and a highway. Sierra was wearing the same outfit she was seen wearing on surveillance footage taken at a food court and on a street the day she vanished, Istanbul Police Chief Huseyin Capkin said.

Sierra's body was taken to a morgue, Capkin said, and was identified by her husband.

It did not appear she had been raped or was involved in any espionage or trafficking, Capkin said.

Betsy Jimenez said Monday that her family has many unanswered questions such as what happened to her daughter after she left her hotel room to go and take photographs of a famous bridge.

"They're still investigating so they might think it might be a robbery, but they're not sure," said Jimenez.

Sierra, who had traveled to Istanbul on Jan. 7 to practice her photography hobby, was last heard from on Jan. 21, the day she was due to board a flight home to New York City.

Dennis Jimenez, Sierra's father, told reporters Monday that he didn't want her to go on the trip.

"I didn't want her to go. But, she wanted to go because this was an opportunity for her to sightsee and pursue her photography hobby because Turkey was a land rich with culture and ancient history and she was fascinated with that," said Jimenez.

While in Istanbul, Sierra would Skype with her family and friends daily, telling them about how amazing the culture was.

Sierra's best friend Maggie Rodriguez told ABC News that she was forced to pull out of the trip at the last minute because she couldn't afford it. That's why Sierra traveled alone.

Her husband, Steven Sierra, and brother, David Jimenez, traveled to Istanbul last Sunday to meet with American and Turkish officials and push the search forward.

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