This is the first case I've heard of where a child victim of sexual assault and murder had a public viewing of her open casket. I don't think any sex offenders would come to meet up with other sex offenders; I think they would come to leer at this violated little girl, knowing what her body had been through.
-Just my (horrifying) opinion.
ETA: And to answer your other question: No, I don't think anyone whipped out their clicking camera with a paparazzi lense, but I do think that not everyone with a cell-phone camera has strong morals and values.
Jorelys Rivera did. And though her face was horribly disfigured, they insisted on open casket. There was a sheer veil draped over the casket to mute the fact that her facial repair the funeral home did would never make her face look normal again. Pictures of her in the open casket were published in Puerto Rican newspapers, IIRC, where the father still lived at the time of her murder.
Open casket viewing, even on children, is common in some cultures, a horror to other cultures. Even in America, people view it differently.
I come from a long line of people who prefer cremation and NO casket viewing, just a memorial service. But I understand people have varying views on this stuff.
My hubby's extended family all immigrated from the Philippines, and it's very common, no matter the age of the deceased, to take a picture of the deceased in their casket. I don't know why. I guess they feel it's important to immortalize this final moment. Anyway, I didn't know this when I was engaged to my hubby and went home with him for Christmas that first time.
So we're flipping through photo albums, there's hubby as a child at Disney, hubby riding a bike for the first time, oops, there's grandpa in his casket. :thud:
