Funeral home: No one wants to bury bomb suspect

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By STEVE LeBLANC and BOB SALSBERG

BOSTON (AP) - A funeral home director was scrambling to find a cemetery that would bury a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, ignoring protesters gathered outside his business and saying everybody deserves a dignified burial service no matter the circumstances of his or her death.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died from "gunshot wounds of torso and extremities" and blunt trauma to his head and torso, said Worcester funeral home owner Peter Stefan, who has Tsarnaev's body and on Friday read details from his death certificate. The certificate lists the time of his death as 1:35 a.m. on April 19, four days after the deadly bombing, Stefan said.

Tsarnaev died after a gunfight with authorities who had launched a massive manhunt for him and his brother, ethnic Chechens from Russia who came to the United States about a decade ago. Police have said he ran out of ammunition before his younger brother dragged his body under a vehicle while fleeing.

Tsarnaev's family was making arrangements Friday for his funeral as investigators searched the woods near a college attended by 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was captured less than a day after his brother's death

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130504/DA62ARU80.html

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In this Feb. 17, 2010, photo, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, left, smiles after accepting the trophy for winning the 2010 New England Golden Gloves Championship in Lowell, Mass. Tsarnaev, the older of the brothers suspected in the Boston Marathon bombing, died from gunshot wounds and blunt trauma to his head and torso, his death certificate says. (AP Photo/The Lowell Sun, Julia Malakie, File) MANDATORY CREDIT

[MADem]

1. There were many protesters outside the Worcester funeral home yesterday. nt

They may have to ship his ass to the metro area, and bury him down that way.

[watoos]

3. What he did was horrible

but as my monsignor said at Mass two Sunday's ago, we can't let acts of violence harden our hearts.

[Kolesar]

4. Funeral director is just doing his job

Those protestors should have protested the Iraq War or bush, or the bankers.

[ButterflyBlood]

8. How do you know they didn't?

I protested the Iraq war and was at some Occupy stuff and if I lived there I might protest thst guy as well.

[Quantess]

12. Protesting his funeral services is not going to undo any atrocities.

Seems like misguided anger.

[enlightenment]

31. Exactly.

This is nonsensical.

[John2]

19. I doubt he

can hear you, unless you are one of those who believe in the afterlife. It is nothing but a dead corpse. I think this should be a private matter between the family and the Funeral director. Anybody obstructing that should be arrested for disturbances. It is their business. Protesting dead corpses seems stupid to me. Let the dead rest and the living go about living until their time come. The dead can't hear or feel anything from the living.

[heaven05]

11. exactly?

protest a dead body? It's rotting. Bury it, be done with that corpse. Move on. All that protesting won't bring back the dead or return arms and legs to people who lost them. Human beings.

[gopiscrap]

22. Thank you I fully agree

once you're dead...bury the body...trash his reputation if you will, but everybdy deserves to have their remains treated with dignity and disposed of with grace..otherwise we are just as barbaric as everyone else.

[Sheldon Cooper]

5. Those protesters need to shut up and go home.

Someone has to bury this guy - what's their solution? Leave his body to rot in the street?

[ButterflyBlood]

9. Do what was done with bin Laden

Or cremate him and dump his ashes in Boston Harbor.

[MADem]

36. Cremation is against his religion--can't do that without risking MAJOR "fundie" backlash.

I think they should either try to find something in the metro DC area near the uncle, or in an area of large Muslim population such as Michigan or California (and leave the grave unmarked); mail the corpse home to Russia; or do the "Bin Ladin solution"--burial at sea. Given the circumstances, I think the third choice is the best.

Perhaps the Russians have a warship in Havana or at sea that can swing by, pick the guy up, and dump him outside the 200 mile limit.

That is not an optimal solution in terms of Islamic burial practices, but it is prescribed IF there is concern that the body will not lie safely in the grave, that someone might dig it up and desecrate it or use it in a mocking fashion.

I think this guy's situation fits that bill.

[Beacool]

39. Killing is also against his religion.

Therefore, screw him!! He already broke one of the most sacred commandments of most religions: Thou shall not kill.

[MADem]

41. That doesn't solve the problem, though.

Cremate this guy, and you open up a huge can of worms, that could produce additional violence and vengeance.

I don't think anyone wants that.

[Freddie Stubbs]

18. Send it to Russia so that he parents can have it buried there

[TheCowsCameHome]

6. How about shipping him back to Russia

and let them worry about his burial site.

[booley]

7. I guess I just don't get it

What's the point of protesting a dead guy?

[bunnies]

10. maybe the cemetaries are worried about vandalism.

rightfully so, I'd imagine.

[bigendian]

13. This is the church that buried James Earl Ray.

Maybe they could help.

http://www.micwhosoever.org/

[malthaussen]

14. Roll the first reel of "The Magnificent Seven."

Some of my fellow humans seem to forget, from time to time, what civilization is all about.

-- Mal

[Thor_MN]

15. Cremate him. Use his ashes to make a paving stone.

Such that marathon runners can trample him for as long as there is a Boston Marathon. Better put in a drain to the sanitary sewer nearby.

[klyon]

40. sounds good to me or mail his ashes to his mother

unmarked paving stone of course

[mc51tc]

16. Lee Harvey Oswald was buried in Ft. Worth, Texas

after being shot by Jack Ruby. No one wanted his body either. You can see how many showed up for the funeral here by viewing the photos: They need to find a rural cemetery somewhere making sure the grave in unmarked.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=781

[mc51tc]

17. Timothy McVeigh was cremated

after his execution for the Oklahoma City bombing.

[Freddie Stubbs]

20. On second thought, cremation is probably the best option

[kestrel91316]

28. Cremation is forbidden in Islam. You want REAL trouble, cremate him.

[Freddie Stubbs]

46. Isn't blowing up children forbidden in Islam? If so, Tsarnaev wasn't really a Muslum

[SunSeeker]

21. Why don't they just cremate him and ship the ashes to his parents in Dagestan?

Didn't the parensts say they wanted his remains back in Dagestan?

[brooklynite]

23. I believe it's because he's Muslim...

Some religions insist on a burial...in which case who would object to cremation should be resolving this problem.

[SunSeeker]

26. Well then ship the casket to Dagestan? nt

[flamingdem]

24. Wherever he's buried he just might become a sacred site for extremists

and who would want that?

[corkhead]

25. This guy would have been a more appropriate funeral director:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Deadwood_characters#Mr._Wu

[kestrel91316]

27. This is IDIOCY. But what do you expect in our IDIOCRACY?

The man is DEAD. We bury dead people. What do these freaks want?

I shouldn't ask. I assume they want to be given possession of his remains so they can publicly desecrate them.

[kestrel91316]

29. Embalm him at an unnamed mortuary and then bury his remains in

"potter's field". Every large county has a place they bury unclaimed remains, IIRC. Unmarked graves, anonymous resting place.

Cremation is forbidden in Islam and it would be inappropriate to desecrate his remains by doing so, and would certainly add fuel to the fire.

[MADem]

43. He has been "claimed." Embalming is a problem, too. It's not appropriate in Islamic tradition.

They are no doubt keeping him VERY cold to try to stave off rot.

I think the easy answer is burial at sea, a-la-bin Ladin. It is permissible, if there is a reasonable fear or expectation that the body will be dug up and abused, mutilated, etc., or if animals could get to it and eat it. This guy checks that block.

Also, since there's the "Good/Bad Muslim" argument, burial at sea kind of eliminates how he is to be buried (face toward Meccah/face away from Meccah). The uncle, or whoever is paying the bill, would have to agree, but I think that's the best way to handle it. Perhaps some wealthy Muslim with an interest in making this all go away could loan a seagoing yacht, or they could haul the corpse out to sea and hand it off to a Russian military vessel for burial in very deep water.

[Posteritatis]

30. All the threads about this sure get really fucking ugly. (nt)

[caseymoz]

32. I don't understand.

The guy's dead. 1) You can't just leave him to be refrigerated at taxpayer's expense. 2) It's against his religion and his family's religion to cremate him. 3) If you buy him you can't just desecrate his corps. 4) People who've done a hell of a lot worse that he did have been buried in fully marked graves, so let's not get into who deserves a decent burial and who doesn't. 5) Having him unburied and disowned is just going to stink up the neighborhood.

[onpatrol98]

33. Family in the US

Potter's field...unless some of those complaining about the protesters have a nice family plot they would like him placed in.

[MADem]

44. A Muslim cemetery is optimal, because other cemeteries make demands re:

how the body is placed in the ground--they want vaults, and metal coffins, etc, and that's not how it's done. If a Muslim cemetery can be found, it must be his sect--is he shi'a or sunni (I suspect the latter but you never know).

The uncle, I think, is ready to pay the costs of his burial --the problem is finding a place that will cooperate.

I think the grave will have to remain unmarked, if they can find a place.

[davsand]

34. So much anger and pain in all of this.

I can only hope that at some point the better parts of human nature lead everybody to some kind of healing.

What those two are accused of was a terrible horrible crime. Nobody can ever fix that. All any of us can do is try and heal the damage as much as possible and then resolve to try and correct the things that led to its happening.

Not only are there those directly injured in the attacks, but there are those who love them along with an entire larger group of people who mourn and carry anger. While there is no way to condone what was done, it is also important to consider that those who loved the accused along with that community are ALSO carrying grief and pain. Seems to me that an awful lot of people are hurting and sad right now, and maybe we need to be worrying about that.

Peace.


Laura

[Historic NY]

35. send him to his father COD..

[zeeland]

37. Threaten to cremate his remains and spread them over the city...

or shut up and go home. This frenzy of feeding on rage and hate
Is revolting. Enough already.

[Beacool]

38. I don't blame them.

They don't want to have the headache of having people vandalize the tomb once they found out where he's buried.

Why don't they cremate him and send the ashes to his parents? They can then decide to bury him in his own country.

Personally, I don't care if he joins Bin Laden in a watery grave. Good riddance!!!

[ColesCountyDem]

42. Even Lee Harvey Oswald received a decent burial.

Let it go, people...

[brentspeak]

45. Only a fool of a cemetary owner would agree to host Tsarnaev's plot

Why deal with the constant vandalism and disruption? Not to mention probable lawsuits from families whose loved ones are buried in the same cemetery.

[Myrina]

47. Could they bury him unmarked/John Doe?

Like cities do with 'unclaimed'/homeless?