Jailed in Murders, Buried in Honor

She said it would not be difficult to remove his ashes from the columbarium, a structure for housing cremated remains. She added that the marble "niche cover," similar to a headstone, had not been delivered.

Davis, a retired maintenance mechanic who lives with his wife in Hagerstown, said he planned to go to the cemetery this weekend with his family to see the site and push for Wagner's removal. "What they do with him after they pull him out of there," he said, "that's up to them."

But the ashes might not be going anywhere. Although Wagner's criminal history came as a surprise to the cemetery, his crimes do not necessarily exclude him from an Arlington burial.

"A capital crime and being sentenced to life in prison without parole, or a death sentence, would preclude him from being buried in Arlington," Calvillo said. Anything lesser would not.

According to a spokeswoman at the Washington County judiciary, Wagner was eligible for parole.

Furthermore, as someone who served on active duty in the armed forces and was honorably discharged, he was eligible for a "standard" burial there (for "full" honors -- including a band, a caisson and a military escort -- more stringent requirements have to be met). For an Army private first class, as Wagner was, pallbearers for his service would have been provided by the 3rd Infantry at Fort Myer.

The cemetery does not do background checks on those buried there, Calvillo said, adding that it is up to their families to share such information. Wagner's sister could not be located for comment.

In the 1960s, the Department of Defense denied an Arlington burial to a decorated World War II veteran who had been chairman of the New York State Communist Party and had been convicted for advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government.

After a three-year legal fight by his family, he was buried at Arlington.

In 1997, Congress passed legislation barring those convicted of capital crimes from being buried in a national cemetery. The law was enacted to preclude any possibility that Oklahoma City bomber Timothy J. McVeigh, a Persian Gulf War veteran, would be buried at Arlington.

For most convicted criminals, however, there are no restrictions.

So does this mean that others among the 290,000 people buried in the cemetery could be convicted killers?

"It is definitely a possibility," Calvillo said. "If you're eligible, you're eligible."

Staff writer Lila de Tantillo and staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.