Elizabeth Zamparelli

Elizabeth Zamparelli testified for the defense on Day 58 about her high-school friendship with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev through Best Buddies. Under Miriam Conrad's questioning, she described his support during personal difficulties and respectful treatment of girls. She said she never saw him argue or fight during the time she knew him in high school and explained her initial rejection of the possibility that he was the suspect shown in photographs.

Zamparelli also described encounters with Tamerlan, qualifying her sense of intimidation by her younger age and unfamiliarity with his group. The court allowed questions about when she met him but sustained objections to reported information and proposed post-bombing conversations. Conrad's state-of-mind explanation did not change those rulings. The court overruled objections to questioning about Zamparelli's own reaction to the photographs; she denied treating the bombing itself as a joke.

On cross-examination, Zamparelli agreed that the defendant was socially well adjusted, confident, and respectful. She described movement between friendship groups as typical at Rindge. She knew he was Muslim but said they had not really discussed political beliefs and did not think he was secretive about them. She acknowledged reduced contact after he left for college and described encounters with Tamerlan in group settings. The court sustained several objections concerning friends and marijuana but allowed questions about beliefs and confidence. No further defense questioning followed, and she was excused.