Jackson Family Feared Body-Snatching

(CBS)  A family spokesman says Michael Jackson will be buried next Saturday.

Aug. 29 would have been the King of Pop's 51st birthday, which Jackson biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli calls "sort of ironic and also really sad."

Jackson will be laid to rest in the Grand Mausoleum at famed Forest Lawn Memorial Park in th Los Angeles suburb of Glendale, Calif., in a private ceremony.

"Because Forest Lawn is a private, gated cemetery," "Early Show" national correspondent Hattie Kauffman notes, "fans will never be able to make a pilgrimage to Michael Jackson's crypt."

"There was a LOT of concern," Taraborrelli told Kauffman, "about kidnapping the body, about vandalizing the body."

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He adds emotions played a role in the family taking two months to decide the final fate of Jackson's body.

"They just didn't want to let Michael go," Taraborrelli says. "To a lot of people in the family, this really is the final moment that they've dreaded for a long time."

[bth35]

what about cremation? then the family does not have to worry about vandalism or body kidnapping. Also they can send him off to the Moon that way. There is no place on this planet that would give him the ultimate peace that he deserves. MJ would love to rest up there, out in the space, on the Moon.

[Markie33tx]

I think burying him on his birthday is a way for his family and fans to have one final moment with him. If his death has affected his fans, I can just imagine how his family must feel I do believe they loved him for who he was not what he was. I hope everyone will continue to respect this situation.

[racegirl4019]

Let it go and let him rest in peace, enjoy is music and dancing.

[PostalOneToo]

That's rather creepy. Won't the body be deteriorating?

[martin9p2]

It's sick to delay the funeral at all, and it's sicker to delay further because MJ's birthday is coming up.

[govtguy]

Half this garbage wouldn't happen if the media would let it die off. the other half is caused by MJ's family and those attempting to capitalize on the life and death of MJ. The post-death feeding frenzy is all media contrived (with help from Papa Joe Jackson) and anything that happens goes right back on them. WHO CARES? LET I GO! YOU'VE BEATEN THIS CORPSE BEYOND RECOGNITION.