{"id":28733,"date":"2023-04-12T17:35:22","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T17:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/04\/12\/sailors-killer-to-be-removed-from-arlington-thanks-to-new-law\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:59:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:59:31","slug":"sailors-killer-to-be-removed-from-arlington-thanks-to-new-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/fedlife\/2023\/04\/12\/sailors-killer-to-be-removed-from-arlington-thanks-to-new-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Sailor\u2019s killer to be removed from Arlington thanks to new law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After 30 years in a place of honor at Arlington National Cemetery,<\/a> the remains of a former Navy lieutenant who kidnapped and murdered a sailor who rebuffed his attentions will be disinterred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Lt. Andrew Chabrol secured above-ground burial for himself in the nation\u2019s most revered veterans\u2019 cemetery while awaiting his execution by the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1993 for the murder of Petty Officer 2nd Class Melissa Harrington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, the Navy simply did not have legal grounds for excluding him, since he\u2019d completed his service honorably. But in early 2019, a small group of veterans, including her husband, spoke out, telling this reporter in a story for the Washington Post<\/a> about the lasting trauma of Chabrol\u2019s crimes and how disturbed they were by his repose in Arlington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, they say, Harrington is getting a measure of justice long denied to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Passed in December 2022 in the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act was a provision introduced by outgoing Rep. Jackie Speier, R-California, that requires the secretary of the Army to remove Chabrol from Arlington by Sept. 30 and transfer his remains to next-of-kin. Or, if no one responds to the Army\u2019s request, to dispose of the remains as deemed appropriate.<\/p>\n\n\n\t