WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate has approved a bill that would force the removal of a convicted killer's remains from Arlington National Cemetery.
The measure involving the cremated remains of Hagerstown resident Russell Wagner is part of a veterans' benefits bill the Senate passed last week. A companion House bill is awaiting action by the Veterans Affairs Committee.
Wagner was an Army veteran who died of a heroin overdose last year in prison while serving two life sentences for the 1994 stabbing deaths of Daniel and Wilda Davis in Hagerstown.
His remains were placed in Arlington at his sister's request. Democrat Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland cosponsored the bill with Republican Larry Craig of Idaho, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
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