Cemeteries of 3 States Reject Tsarnaev’s Burial

Following the release of slain bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev‘s official cause of death Friday afternoon, the country’s attention has turned to where the alleged terrorist’s body will end up.

A CBS affiliate in Boston confirmed that a local cemetery in West Roxbury, another in nearby Connecticut, and a third in New Jersey have all shot down requests to accept Tsarnaev’s body.

Protestors gathered outside a funeral home in North Attleboro where the body was sent temporarily after its release Thursday night before it was moved to the Graham Putnam and Mahoney Funeral Parlor, which will be handling funeral arrangements for the Tsarnaev family. Paid police details will remain outside the funeral home over the weekend.

Funeral home owner Peter Stefan says he has had experience with Muslim burials throughout Massachusetts. Speaking to reporters, he acknowledged the ‘fear’ cemetery managers must have of allowing Tsarnaev’s final resting place to be in their soil. “Will people want to go to the cemetery,” Stefan asked,  ”or will people be upset that somebody who’s a terrorist will be buried next to their Uncle Freddy?”

Terrorism expert Edith Flyn echoed that sentiment: “I don’t think any cemetery deserves this kind of development. I think any burial — as long as it’s known where he is — they might vandalize the cemetery.” She joins a growing number of people calling for the body to be sent back to Tsarnaev’s family in the Caucasus region of Russia.

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