Police buy cemetery plots to block Josh Powell from being buried next to his boys

[n2doc]

By msnbc.com staff and news services

A sheriff and his sergeant in Washington state have bought burial plots next to Josh Powell's boys in order to block family members from burying him next to them, according to a media report Wednesday.

"The bottom line is, Josh Powell will not be near those two boys," Pierce County Sheriff's Sgt. Ed Troyer said in an interview with a Seattle-area radio program called the Ron and Don Show.

Josh Powell's surviving relatives wanted him to buried at the same cemetery as the two sons he killed, the city manager in Puyallup said earlier Wednesday.
But that does not look like it is going to happen.

Troyer and Sheriff Paul Pastor used their personal money and funds from Crimestoppers Tacoma-Pierce County to buy plots that are on either side of the boys, according to a report on the radio station's website that was confirmed by Troyer on Twitter:

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[zipplewrath]

1. Um, reburial?

I've known more than one family that moved everyone so there'd be more room for additional burials. Presuming the family has the cash, they could just have them all buried somewhere else.

[msanthrope]

10. Not a chance. You need a court order to remove those bodies, and there's no way Josh Powell's

family is going to get that.

[zipplewrath]

14. Well someone does

It doesn't take a court order to have someone moved. You, of course have to be the one legally allowed to do so. In this case, with a missing mother and grandparents getting involved, that might admittedly be hard to sort out.

[jeff47]

17. You need a court order to remove those bodies without family conscent

The family can move them whenever they want. In this case, the grandparents could move 'em at any time.

[msanthrope]

20. Bullshit. You can't get a body out of the ground in this country without a disinterment permit, and

you are generally only getting those out of the Orphan's Court, or the like. Families cannot move bodies at will....particularly when the remains are contested. Here, the executors of the estates of the boys and the mother are going to win.

Even parents cannot move bodies at will.

[alcibiades_mystery]

2. Day late and a dollar short, guys

Symbolic protection...

[Nuclear Unicorn]

3. Landfill would be OK for him.

[Earth_First]

4. I'm probably going to catch some sh*t for this one...

However, I feel that law enforcement/crime stoppers overstepped this one.

Are the circumstances so horrific that they are beyond comprehension...? Absolutely! There's no denying that....

However, if the *family* wishes are being trumped by an emotional outpouring of community support, it's a little over boundaries if you ask me.

on edit: I want to register my opinion that I do not agree with the family wishes, just that they should be respected.

Just my .02

[JNelson6563]

8. Perhaps, since they saw firsthand

what he did, their emotions are a bit more raw than ours. We have the luxury of being far removed. Would bet there is much frustration and woulda-coulda-shoulda going on and that leaves one with an overwhelming sense of impotence. They are merely trying to do something, anything! to try to make it better.

Julie

[Arkansas Granny]

9. I haven't heard, but I would imagine that the wishes of Susan Powell's family would be

for Josh Powell to not be buried next to her sons that he killed (and likely Susan, as well). His family isn't the only one with wishes to be respected.

[msanthrope]

12. I don't think the family of the murderer gets a say over the family of the murdered. nt

[Brickbat]

5. I think this is odd, and WTF with the Crimestoppers money being used for this?

[FSogol]

6. They did the right thing. n/t

[WI_DEM]

7. only comment I can make is that at least the coward will be buried

who knows what he did with the body of the mother's of those boys. Maybe wild animals made way with her body (parts).

[pipi_k]

11. I wonder if his family

might try to get around that by having him cremated so he fits into the same grave.

My daughter (11/13/74 - 2/17/75) is buried in the same grave as her step grandfather (died 1969) and grandmother (died 1997). I'm pretty sure my ex MIL had to be cremated in order to fit her in).

Not that I'm advocating for the guy to be buried with his sons...just that there still might be room for him if he's cremated, if the family wants to push it.

[renate]

16. those dates are so heartbreaking

I'm sorry.

It's very sweet and touching that she's buried with her grandparents.

[lapislzi]

13. I am not sure how I feel about this.

It's easy to judge; hard to have compassion sometimes.

Remains are remains. They're not animated. This man can't hurt his children any longer.

Where should the man be buried? Who would "want" to be buried next to such a person?

Does it matter? I know that my opinion matters not at all, but it's the kind of moral and ethical dilemma that intrigues me.

In cases like this, I have to keep remembering that Gandhi forgave his assassin before he died.

[ChazII]

15. Good points.

I agree that the moral and ethical aspects are intriguing.

[Blue_Tires]

19. Does this *really* matter for the police in the long run??