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Friends and family of slain prosecutor Rachelle Bergeron are gathering in her hometown outside Milwaukee today to remember the crusading attorney at her funeral service.
Bergeron, 33, was shot dead outside her home on the tiny South Pacific island of Yap where she was acting attorney general. Authorities on the island announced last week that there are two suspects in custody, although they did not disclose a possible motive.
Bergeron, a crusader against child sex trafficking which is rampant on the island of 11,000, slept with a machete under her pillow after receiving numerous threats related to her cases, said friends.
A week after she was gunned down in front of her home in Yap, more than 8,000 people gathered for a memorial service on the island.
An empty coffin was covered with a bouquet of tropical flowers for the event, which brought together Bergeron’s family and local friends on the island. Her remains were sent to the US for an autopsy following her Oct. 14 death, after the FBI sent two investigators to aid local authorities in the probe.
“The FBI did everything right, and even draped the coffin in an American flag even though she wasn’t a soldier,” said Simon Hammerling, 36, a German-born pilot and Bergeron’s widower.
A GoFundMe campaign raised more than $33,000 for the funeral, which will take place this afternoon at the Brookside Baptist Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin.
Although Bergeron’s remains have since been returned to her family, Hammerling asked for a closed coffin during a day of visitation before the memorial service.
“I prefer not to have an open coffin,” he told The Post. “I want to remember her being very much alive.”
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