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Crime

Veteran Buried With Full Military Honors Despite Allegations of Murder Spree

Oct. 23, 2012 8:19am Liz Klimas

The body of veteran Michael Anderson was buried in Fort Custer National Cemetery in Battle Creek, Mich., with full military honors. Some are protesting the privilege of being buried here though as Anderson was accused of going on a killing spree in May.

Family of Murdered Mother Protests Honorable Burial of Veteran Michael Anderson Accused of Shooting Five

Michael Anderson (Image: WISH TV)

WISH-TV reports on May 30 Anderson allegedly entered the Villa Paree Apartment Complex in Indianapolis where he shot five people and killed mother of two Alicia Koehl. Anderson then took his own life as well.

Alicia Koehl (Image: WISH TV)

It’s Koehl’s husband who is speaking out against the location and situation surrounding Anderson’s burial:

“The person who murdered my wife has been given military honors and is buried in a national cemetery up in Michigan,” Paul Koehl said. “I’m very upset.”

“I am extremely upset by the fact that he has been buried there, which is a violation,” Koehl said.

Paul Koehl stands at his wife’s grave. (Image: WISH TV)

WISH-TV reports the guidelines of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs saying “Federal officials may not inter in Veterans cemeteries persons who are shown by clear and convincing evidence to have committed a Federal or State capital crime but were unavailable for trial due to death or flight to avoid prosecution.”

Koehl went on to say that Anderson’s family did not provide all the information for the burial of the veteran’s body and is now being told by the department that it is looking into the matter. In a statement the Department of Veterans Affairs takes said it “works closely with funeral directors to ensure that those we will inter have not committed a capital crime which would make them ineligible for interment. In this instance, records show we were informed by the funeral home that no capital crime was committed and VA proceeded with scheduling the internment and burial.”

The department told Koehl it will be conducting an investigation into this situation.

Watch the report:

(H/T: Daily Mail)

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Comments (26)

COFemale
Posted on October 23, 2012 at 2:57pm
There is no way this man should have received a military burial. It is one thing to allow his family to receive military benefits, but to slap the one’s he killed by giving him a military burial is another thing. I don’t care what possessed him to go on a shooting spree; that is irrelevant. The fact that he murdered innocent people should strip him of this honor.

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Prosecute_Constitutional_Treason_In_Washington
Posted on October 23, 2012 at 10:49am
Where the guy is buried is insignificant. He’s dead. What more can one ask for. The body is just skin and bones a place for his soul to inhabit on earth. His soul now waits eternal judgement. Maybe he was demon possessed when he shot his neighbors. Satan partners in such vile acts.

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- jungle J
  Posted on October 23, 2012 at 10:58am
  You push more people away from Christ with your crap. Better that you speak not for Jesus.
  
  Report this comment
- jungle J
  Posted on October 23, 2012 at 10:59am
  Give unto Ceasar what is Ceasar’s
  
  Report this comment
- LakeHartwellSailor
  Posted on October 23, 2012 at 11:59am
  @Prosecute_Constitutional_Treason_In_Washington
  
  Dig this piece of fecal matter up and toss him in a trash heap. Burial with full military HONORS are for servicemen & women who act HONORABLY. This piece of crap has no honor; and therefore does not deserve to be treated with honor.
  
  Report this comment
- WilliamWallace1
  Posted on October 23, 2012 at 1:33pm
  Wrong, he’s a disgrace to the military as well as man kind. They should have thrown his body to the wolves!
  
  Report this comment
denkat56
Posted on October 23, 2012 at 9:22am
no one who has commited a crime should be afforded full rights and priviledges earned by the rest of our heros, to do so only tarnishes and brings embarrassment to the rest.

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tuppergun
Posted on October 23, 2012 at 9:07am
The Army vet that killed my brother in Manly Springs Alaska is buried in a military plot in Sitka. Not with honers of any kind. Its still wrong that we had to pay for it. When I go up there I get to piss on it and that feels better.

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PA PATRIOT
Posted on October 23, 2012 at 9:07am
Uh Oh,
Some funeral home is in DEEP DOO DOO.
STATED IN THE ARTICLE
“In a statement the Department of Veterans Affairs takes said it “works closely with funeral directors to ensure that those we will inter have not committed a capital crime which would make them ineligible for interment. In this instance, records show we were informed by the funeral home that no capital crime was committed and VA proceeded with scheduling the internment and burial.”

All interments in National Cemeteries are scheduled through the VA Office of National Cemeteries in St.Louis Proof of an “Honorable Discharge or form DD-214 are required for approval.

The RULE
e. Persons Found Guilty of a Capital Crime

Under 38 U.S.C. § 2411, interment or memorialization in a VA national cemetery or in Arlington National Cemetery is prohibited if a person is convicted of a Federal or State capital crime, for which a sentence of imprisonment for life or the death penalty may be imposed and the conviction is final. Federal officials may not inter in Veterans cemeteries persons who are shown by clear and convincing evidence to have committed a Federal or State capital crime but were unavailable for trial due to death or flight to avoid prosecution. Federally funded State veterans cemeteries must also adhere to this law. This prohibition is also extended to furnishing a Presidential Memorial Certificate, a burial flag, and a headstone or marker.

Clearly, the funeral home was withholdi

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- Southerner01
  Posted on October 23, 2012 at 9:45am
  Did you read the rule you copied? He was never “convicted” of a crime because they don’t take dead people to trial. Seems like a loophole in either the policy, or the law, that needs to be fixed. But it isn’t negligence on the part of the funeral home, because there was no conviction to report.
  
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- Southerner01
  Posted on October 23, 2012 at 9:57am
  As far as the second part of the rule, I’m not sure how a funeral home director is supposed to be qualified to assess whether clear and convincing evidence is present, unless they were given that evidence by someone. It’s not clear that they were.
  
  Report this comment
- Mr.Fitnah
  Posted on October 23, 2012 at 10:57am
  SOUTHERNER01 cant read.
  
  Federal officials may not inter in Veterans cemeteries persons who are shown by clear and convincing evidence to have committed a Federal or State capital crime but were unavailable for trial due to death or flight to avoid prosecution. Federally funded State veterans cemeteries must also adhere to this law.
  
  Report this comment
- PA PATRIOT
  Posted on October 23, 2012 at 11:46am
  Southerner01
  let me see. He shot five people killing one… Then let me see he took his own life,,,prior to a trial.
  
  He is not elegible for interment in a National Cemetery. The FD receives a DEATH CERTIFICATE with a cause of death and in this case I am sure was issued by a coroner who did a post mortem exam stating “suicide” as a cause of death. It is the job of the Funeral Director to review the details surrounding the death and fill out a questionaire.
  The last question on the sheet is
  CAPITAL CRIME ISSUES ?
  Sorry you are wrong. The FD did not do his job.
  
  Report this comment
- Southerner01
  Posted on October 23, 2012 at 11:47am
  MRFITNAH apparently cannot either, since my second post refers to that portion of the policy. A funeral Home can do a background check, which will show convictions, but will not show anything about the above events. Where and how would the funeral home get this info?
  
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The_Pointy_End
Posted on October 23, 2012 at 8:50am
The department told Koehl it will be conducting an investigation into this situation.

Department Investigation = **** off and go away.

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biohazard23
Posted on October 23, 2012 at 8:50am
They should have used this guy in that Canadian forensic experiment instead of the pigs.

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Eastinfection
Posted on October 23, 2012 at 8:44am
I fully expect all the apologists that spent yesterday defending Lance Armstrong to show up here in order to stick up for this murderer as well…. lol.

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on October 23, 2012 at 9:06am
  I didn’t even bother with the Lance Armstrong story yesterday. I had taken an interest in cycling back in the late ’70s and began to follow the Tour de France way back when. I was in Belgium and only a two hour drive from Paris when Gregg Lemond won his first. Couldn’t attend since my work schedule was changed. I at least in spirit supported Armstrong until the latest info came out. Now, he really ****** me off, and has stained the U.S. involvement with the sport.
  That being said, I have been to far too many military funerals, and this man….this criminal simply does not deserve this. But, it figures in this day and age when military cemetery directors censor speech at funerals by not allowing families to have grave side prayers, but some internal bureaucrat allows this? I still say that we have become participants in that ancient Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.”
  
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- Eastinfection
  Posted on October 23, 2012 at 9:23am
  Morning RJJ..
  
  I, too, supported Armstrong until this debacle. If you want an interesting read, check out the comments in the Armstrong story… It was like a Kung-Fu movie with 10 posters trying to cheap shot me at once…
  Hero worship by those in denial.
  
  Report this comment
- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on October 23, 2012 at 11:27am
  test
  
  Report this comment
- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on October 23, 2012 at 11:31am
  Eastinfection, Okay, I can post again now. Something must have been down.
  Just checked the Armstrong story, and yeah, you got a pounding, but you gave as good as you got.
  This has been covered by the news lately and in full detail. I just can’t see how some are still supporting Armstrong. I’m certainly not happy with him, and am rather pissed at myself for allowing myself to be duped. These supporters may as well still be supporting the 1919 Chicago White Sox in the World Series. That, and every other cheating scammer since.
  
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- Eastinfection
  Posted on October 23, 2012 at 11:48am
  RJJ.. lol! …BTW:
  
  “8 Men Out” was a great flick…
  & i’d be willing to bet the Armstrong thing will eventually turn out like the Pete Rose scandal.
  Not too many defending him now.
  
  Report this comment
Jenny Lind
Posted on October 23, 2012 at 8:41am
I understand his feelings, and it would distress me greatly if I found out my husband was buried next to a murderer. Seems like his family wanted the honors and burial (free) and did not give the information to the funeral director and the cemetary. Yes, I would ask that he be disinterred and moved out of a place of respect for good people who served their country and didnt come home and murder innocent people.

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voting-for-romney
Posted on October 23, 2012 at 8:28am
So dig him up, and take it out of any assets or money he left behind, or make them pay full price for the burial instead of make it free? Obviously that was a paperwork error?

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- commonsenseguy
  Posted on October 23, 2012 at 8:36am
  they should dig him up and throw him in a ditch some where he does not deserve a proper burial. and at least half of his military pension should go to the victims family,i know it is not much but but it could go towards helping the family’s with medical bills
  
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- Jenny Lind
  Posted on October 23, 2012 at 8:43am
  No pension when he dies, it dies with him, unless it is set up to give a portion to a wife, but not a full pension.
  
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