Arlington National Cemetery will disinter the remains of former Navy Lt. Andrew Chabrol, who was executed in 1993 after he kidnapped, raped and murdered a female sailor who rebuffed his advances.
Chabrol had completed his service honorably, so at the time, the Navy did not have the grounds to legally exclude him from being buried in Arlington.
The 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, passed in December 2022, included a provision from outgoing Rep. Jackie Speier that requires the Army secretary to disinter Chabrol from Arlington by Sept. 30 and have his remains transferred to his next-of-kin or dispose of his remains as appropriate if no one responds to the Army’s request.
“It was appalling to me to think that an officer in the Navy could sexually harass, then kidnap, then rape, and then murder a sailor and get buried at a national cemetery, which is supposed to honor our war heroes and our dead,” Speier said in June 2022. “So he has no place in that cemetery.”