2010.09.15: Slain Peace Corps volunteer's body returns to Port St. Lucie, family prepares for funeral

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Lesotho: Peace Corps Lesotho : Peace Corps Lesotho: Newest Stories: 2010.09.04: Peace Corps Mourns the Loss of Volunteer Thomas Maresco : 2010.09.13: Funeral Mass Thursday in Port St. Lucie for slain Peace Corps volunteer Thomas Maresco : 2010.09.15: Slain Peace Corps volunteer's body returns to Port St. Lucie, family prepares for funeral

By Admin1 (admin) (98.188.147.225) on Sunday, September 19, 2010 - 1:33 pm: Edit Post

Slain Peace Corps volunteer's body returns to Port St. Lucie, family prepares for funeral

Slain Peace Corps volunteer's body returns to Port St. Lucie, family prepares for funeral

Maresco Sr. was still jet-lagged and a bit foggy about details of his weeklong journey. "I remember the red tape," he said. "Every step of the way there was red tape, paperwork to be filled out." After arriving at the Johannesburg airport, Maresco Sr. was driven to a smaller airfield outside the South Africa capital city where his son's body was flown by a small plane from Lesotho. "I insisted that Tommy's casket be covered with an American flag," Maresco Sr. said, "and it was." Maresco Sr. said the FBI and Peace Corps officials were stingy about releasing any information concerning the shooting. "I understand that they only want to tell you facts," he said, "no rumor or hearsay. But I had things I needed to know." "I still respect the Peace Corps and still believe in their mission," Maresco Sr. said, "but I'm not sure their safety policies and precautions are sufficient. If what happened to Tommy helps improve that, then he didn't die in vain."

Slain Peace Corps volunteer's body returns to Port St. Lucie, family prepares for funeral

Slain Peace Corps volunteer's body returns to Port St. Lucie, family prepares for funeral

* By Tyler Treadway

* TCPalm

* Posted September 15, 2010 at 7 p.m., updated September 16, 2010 at 5:44 a.m.

PORT ST. LUCIE - "No parents should have to go through what we've gone through," Thomas Maresco Sr. said, "to have to travel halfway around the world to bring home your son's body."

Maresco returned to Port St. Lucie on Monday evening from Johannesburg with the body of 24-year-old Thomas Carmine Maresco Jr., a Peace Corps volunteer shot and killed Sept. 3 in Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, a mountainous kingdom in southern Africa.

Maresco Jr.'s funeral and burial is today.

Wednesday morning, Maresco Sr. was still jet-lagged and a bit foggy about details of his weeklong journey.

"I remember the red tape," he said. "Every step of the way there was red tape, paperwork to be filled out."

After arriving at the Johannesburg airport, Maresco Sr. was driven to a smaller airfield outside the South Africa capital city where his son's body was flown by a small plane from Lesotho.

"I insisted that Tommy's casket be covered with an American flag," Maresco Sr. said, "and it was."

From South Africa, Maresco flew into Philadelphia; and from there the body was driven to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for an autopsy.

"They said the autopsy would take 24 hours," Maresco Sr. said. "Up until 10 or 10:30 a.m. Monday I wasn't sure I'd be able to bring him home."

Maresco Jr. was killed in an apparent robbery attempt as he and a female Peace Corps volunteer were walking from a farewell function at a hotel in Maseru to the Peace Corps headquarters.

Maresco Sr. said the FBI and Peace Corps officials were stingy about releasing any information concerning the shooting.

"I understand that they only want to tell you facts," he said, "no rumor or hearsay. But I had things I needed to know."

Maresco said his son "apparently got between the gunman and the girl, not to confront him but to protect her and to ask the guy what he wanted. The FBI said he was shot in the heart with a 9-millimeter (pistol). He died instantly; he didn't suffer. That was a big concern for us as parents."

Maresco said since the shooting, the Peace Corps has put a curfew on its volunteers in Maseru and ordered them not walk the city streets alone.

"I still respect the Peace Corps and still believe in their mission," Maresco Sr. said, "but I'm not sure their safety policies and precautions are sufficient. If what happened to Tommy helps improve that, then he didn't die in vain."

A 2004 graduate of Lincoln Park Academy in Fort Pierce, Maresco joined the Peace Corps after graduating with a biology degree from the University of Florida in 2008 and began service as a science teacher in the highlands village of Katse, Lesotho, in November 2009.

"I asked Tommy a couple of times if he was safe," Maresco Sr. said, "and he always downplayed the danger because he didn't want to worry me and my wife."

Maresco Sr. called his son "a true American hero. He gave up everything - put his relationship with his fiancee, his education and a career on hold so he could help people in a third-world country. I think that says a lot about his character, and about the character of any young man or young woman who would do that.

"And his very last act probably saved the life of his friend. In his short time on earth, he made a tremendous impact."




Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: September, 2010; Peace Corps Lesotho; Directory of Lesotho RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Lesotho RPCVs; Safety and Security of Volunteers; Crime; Fallen; Murder





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Story Source: TC Palm

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Lesotho; Safety; Crime; Fallen; Murder

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