Public security

The challenges of burying a mass murderer

Omar Mateen, the man who killed 49 people and wounded 53 others at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, has been buried in an unmarked grave in northwest Miami.

And those who have loved ones buried in the Muslim Cemetery of South Florida are not happy about it.

Andrew Wade, whose wife is buried there, told local media that he “really [doesn’t] want him here.” Others have voiced similar feelings.

That's not uncommon. The question of where to bury a mass murderer is a challenging one. Towns typically don't want to become a resting place for a person with such a dark past. Burials are kept low-key or even secret in order to reduce tensions.

Ann Neumann, a visiting scholar at the Center for Religion and Media at New York University, explains that often the location of burial is not disclosed because it could become a place for protesters or sympathizers to gather.