Slain Boston suspects's body to undergo second autopsy

The body of slain Boston bombings suspect will undergo a second "independent" autopsy as demanded by his relatives, a family spokeswoman has said.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, the main accused in the Boston bombings along with his 19-year-old brother Dzhokhar, was shot dead by police in the wee hours of April 19.

For nearly two weeks, Tamerlan's body lay unclaimed at the Boston medical examiner's office. A funeral home now has the remains and a quest is underway to find him a resting place in Massachusetts.

But first, he will undergo a second "independent" autopsy demanded by his relatives, a family spokeswoman said.

His death certificate is yet to be filed with the Boston city clerk, and there is no burial plot yet, according to the funeral home holding the remains.

If no grave site is found after the second autopsy, Peter Stefan, the owner of the funeral home, plans to ask the government to find a grave, CNN reported.

Three cemeteries that Stefan contacted said they feared reprisals, but the funeral home owner said that one cannot pick and choose when it comes to a burial.

"This is what we do in a civilised society, regardless of the circumstances," Stefan said.
"As I told some of them, at the immediate moment you may fear (reprisal), but later on, when things calm down, people are going to resent you because you didn't do it," he said.

Tamerlan and Dzhokhar allegedly carried out the deadly Boston Marathon bombings in which three people were killed and more than 250 others were injured on April 15, in one of the worst terrorist attack in the US post 9/11.

Tamerlan's body remained unclaimed until Thursday, when an uncle, who had previously publicly condemned his alleged attacks, had a funeral parlor pick up the body.

The uncle, Maryland resident Ruslan Tsarni, had decried the alleged bombers as "losers" after the attacks.

Their parents in Dagestan have said they will not fly his body back to Russia for burial, spokeswoman Heda Saratova said.

Residents of North Attleboro, Massachusetts, took to the streets to boo Tamerlan, when they heard about the presence of the corpse in their town, The Sun Chronicle reported.

Others took to social media to vent anger at the funeral home for accepting the body.

It was later transported to Stefan's funeral home, Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlors in Worcester.

"Everyone deserves to be buried," he said.