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Fate of bombing suspect’s body unresolved

Protesters gesture Monday outside the funeral parlor in Worcester, Mass., where Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s body is being prepared for burial. (Associated Press)
Associated Press

BOSTON – A Massachusetts funeral director said Monday he has received burial offers from out-of-state cemeteries for the body of a Boston Marathon bombing suspect who was killed in a gunbattle with police, even as Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s mother told him she wants the body returned to Russia.

But Worcester funeral home director Peter Stefan said despite the request, he doesn’t think Russia will take Tsarnaev’s body and he is working on other arrangements.

Meanwhile, a friend of the surviving suspect in the bombings was released from federal custody Monday amid a swell of support from family and friends, but was under strict house arrest and only allowed to leave his home to meet with lawyers and for true emergencies.

Also, the administrator of the One Fund Boston released the protocol for payouts of the fund, with the families of those who lost loved ones and individuals who suffered double amputations or permanent brain damage in the bombings receiving the highest payments. The fund has raised $28 million to date.

The question of where Tamerlan Tsarnaev will be buried dragged on for another day. Stefan said he plans to ask for a burial in the city of Cambridge, where Tsarnaev lived. Cambridge has asked him not to do so.

Stefan also said he had out-of-state burial offers but refused to give additional details, adding he was worried protests will rise up at any place that agrees to the burial, as they have at his own funeral home.

“Once the neighbors find out who’s coming, they’re going to come out,” he said.

As the fate of the body remained unclear, Robel Phillipos, a friend of bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was released on $100,000 bond while he awaits trial for allegedly lying to federal investigators probing the April 15 bombings.

Phillipos, 19, who was a student at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth with Tsarnaev, was charged last week with lying to investigators about visiting Tsarnaev’s dorm room three days after the bombings. He faces up to eight years in prison if convicted.