Struggle to find burial site for Boston bombing suspect is 'unprecedented'

The family of Tamerlan Tsarnaev continues to struggle to arrange for a burial, while the administrator of the One Fund Boston announces preliminary plans for distributing donations.

By Mark Trumbull,?Staff writer / May 7, 2013

Protesters gesture outside the Graham, Putnam, and Mahoney Funeral Parlors in Worcester, Mass., Monday, May 6, where the body of slain Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is being prepared for burial. Funeral director Peter Stefan has pleaded for government officials to use their influence to convince a cemetery to bury Tsarnaev, but so far no state or federal authorities have stepped forward.

Elise Amendola / AP

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No one who runs a cemetery, it seems, wants to accept the body of Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

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On Tuesday, Mr. Tsarnaev?s family continued its struggle to arrange for a burial. He died April 19 in a gun battle with police.

It?s an unusual situation, underscoring that privately run cemeteries are under no obligation to take all comers.

"The whole situation is unprecedented," said David Walkinshaw, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Funeral Directors Association. The state of Massachusetts does not own its own cemeteries, he said, and the federal government has cemeteries only for veterans, thus excluding Tsarnaev.

More on that in a bit. In other recent news related to the marathon bombings:

Victims fund. On Tuesday, the administrator of a fund for victims of the April 15 bombings held a second and final public hearing on how the charitable funds will be dispersed.

With the fund having more than $28 million paid or pledged as of Monday, the largest awards ? to individuals or families ? will total as much as $1 million or more, says Kenneth Feinberg of the One Fund Boston.

Priority will be given to families of those killed in the attack, as well as people who lost limbs or are diagnosed with permanent brain damage, the attorney said Monday in releasing a draft protocol. Among the factors still to be weighed: whether some funds will go to people whose injuries did not result in spending a night or more in a hospital, and whether payments will be ?means-tested,? such as by giving larger amounts to people who lack insurance.

The fund is receiving contributions from donors around the world ? including proceeds from a benefit concert in Boston May 30.

July 4 previously a target. The surviving suspected Boston bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, told interrogators that he and his brother considered setting off their bombs on July 4, then shifted their plans to the earlier date of the Boston Marathon, US officials have said.

The Fourth of July holiday is especially big in Boston, when throngs of people line the Charles River for a fireworks show (accompanied by Boston Pops music) that is nationally televised.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/PKVcKCqJaTM/Struggle-to-find-burial-site-for-Boston-bombing-suspect-is-unprecedented

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