Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev has been buried in a cemetery in Virginia, infuriating some members of the area’s Islamic community who say they weren’t consulted and flooring at least one neighbor who said she didn’t even know she lived near a burial ground.
The secret interment this week at a small Islamic cemetery ended a frustrating search for a community willing to take the body, which had been kept at a funeral parlor in Worcester, Mass., as cemeteries in Massachusetts and several other states refused to accept the remains.
Tsarnaev was killed April 19 in a getaway attempt after a gunbattle with police. His younger brother, Dzhokhar, was captured later and remains in custody. They are accused of setting off two shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs April 15 near the marathon finish line in an attack that killed three people and injured more than 260.
Their uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Maryland, took responsibility for the body after Tamerlan’s wife, Katherine Russell, said she wanted it released to her in-laws. He said his nephew was buried in a cemetery in Doswell with the help of a faith coalition.
“The body’s buried,” he said. “That’s it.”
Dozens of communities approached about hosting a gravesite had refused, many with concerns about gravesite vandalism and backlash from the public. With costs to protect the funeral home mounting, Worcester police earlier appealed for help finding a place to bury Tsarnaev.
They had announced Thursday that “as a result of our public appeal for help, a courageous and compassionate individual came forward to provide the assistance needed to properly bury the deceased.”
Martha Mullen, of Richmond, said in a brief telephone interview that she offered to help after seeing news reports about towns and cemeteries refusing to allow burial. She said she is not the only person who helped with arrangements.
“It was an interfaith effort,” she said. “Basically because Jesus says love your enemies.”
The cemetery is hidden among the rural woods and hills of Caroline County about 30 miles north of Richmond and contains only 47 graves. All were covered with reddish-brown mulch except for two that appeared newly dug, neither with any kind of marking and one of them presumably Tsarnaev’s.
On one of the new graves lay a vase full of roses at one end and a single red rose at the other end. The other new grave was bare.
It was not immediately clear who owned the cemetery in Doswell.
Imam Ammar Amonette, of the Islamic Center of Virginia, said that his group was never consulted and that Mullen reached out to a separate group, the Islamic Society of Greater Richmond.
“The whole Muslim community here is furious. Frankly, we are furious that we were never given any information. It was all done secretly behind our backs,” Amonette said, adding it “makes no sense whatsoever” that Tsarnaev’s body was buried in Virginia.
The Islamic Society of Greater Richmond didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking confirmation that it was involved in the burial.
At least one neighbor was unaware the cemetery was even there.
Jaquese Goodall, who lives less than a quarter-mile away down a winding country lane, said a rope usually blocks the gravel road leading to the cemetery. She had no idea when the body was buried and never saw hearses enter or leave the property.
“If they didn’t want him in Boston, why did they bring him all the way down here against our wishes?” said Goodall, 21, who has lived in the area all her life.
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