The body of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect killed in a shootout with police now lies in a Main South funeral home long known for burying the poor, loners and the unwanted.
"I'm not honoring a terrorist. I'm just burying a body," said Peter Stefan, owner of Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlors.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev's uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Maryland, arrived at the Worcester funeral home yesterday afternoon to work with Mr. Stefan on funeral arrangements after authorities released the body.
Mr. Stefan said plans for the funeral of the alleged bomber are being held up by the refusal of several cemeteries to accept Mr. Tsarnaev's body for burial.
As word spread this morning that the body had arrived at Graham Putnam on Main Street, television news trucks from Boston and a few curious locals accumulated outside the white Victorian building, drawn by the spectacle of a tragic story that has made headlines around the world.
Perhaps sensing a potential backlash, prominent members of the neighborhood praised Mr. Stefan's three-decade history of providing funeral services for those who were addicted to drugs, shunned by society or short on cash.
"He's probably the only one in the state who would do this," said William T. Breault, chairman of Worcester's Main South Alliance for Public Safety.
Mr. Breault said his sympathies are with the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings but said he couldn't say a bad word about Mr. Stefan. |