A Massachusetts state senator says the federal government should intervene in the quest to find a final resting place for the elder Boston Marathon bomber.
State Sen. Harriet L. Chandler, D-Worcester, said Uncle Sam needs to alleviate a Wochester funeral home’s onerous burden of having accepted Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s corpse on Friday after it was released by the state medical examiner.
Peter Stefan, owner of the Graham, Putnam and Mahoney Funeral Parlors has told The Boston Herald his business has been beset by protesters since accepting the body, and he cannot book any new business until convincing a cemetery to provide a plot for the body.
“The federal government needs to step in,” said Chandler. “But I’m not sure what they’re going to do or where will they go. Peter Stefan is a very respected and respectable funeral home director in Worcester. He’s a good man. This can’t continue. He’s taking a financial loss as a result of this.”
Stefan accepted Tsarnaev’s body Friday after it was initially sent to a North Attleborough funeral home, where it was greeted by about 20 protesters.
“We have a body for burial that has caused a lot of controversy and we can’t continue to play this game,” Stefan told The Herald. “Under normal circumstances, the government would say it’s (the funeral parlor’s) responsibility to find a place for burial, but this is not normal circumstances. This is a nightmare.
"My problem here is trying to find a gravesite,” Stefan added. “A lot of people don't want to do it. They don't want to be involved with this. I keep bringing up the point of Lee Harvey Oswald, Timothy McVeigh or Ted Bundy. Somebody had to do those, too."
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
