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Is this the most unconventional funeral ever?

A man who was repeatedly shot and killed earlier this month has been laid to rest ‘just as he was in life’.

Wearing his favourite clothes, his legs crossed and a cigarette between his fingers, Fernando de Jesus Diaz Beato had the send off that his family say he would have wanted.

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Fernando de Jesus Diaz Beato was repeatedly stabbed outside his house in San Juan on March 3 (Picture: Ruptly)

Beato, 26, died after he was shot 15 times outside his home in the Villa Carolina neighbourhood of San Juan on March 3.

His family decided against laying Beato in a coffin, and instead chose to prop him up in a chair so that they could ‘remember him as he was’.



But, as a surprise, the funeral home chose to leave his eyes open.

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It is the first time Marin Funeral Home have kept the eyes open of a dead person during a funeral (Picture: Ruptly)

Damaris Marin, the owner of Marin Funeral Home, in Rio Piedras, said they worked closely with the family to achieve their wish.

She said: ‘This time is different because he is seated with his legs crossed but, this is the first dead man in history with his eyes open.

‘We gave [the family] a surprise by leaving the eyes of the dead man open.’

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A cigarette was placed in Beato’s hand so that he could be remembered ‘just as he was in life’ (Picture: Ruptly)

Marin, who has overseen nine unconventional funerals in the past, added: ‘I think that this time was the most impressive reaction to any of the work we have done.’

One of Beato’s sisters said in a video obtained by Live Leak: ‘Everybody is really surprised because seeing him like that is like seeing him as if he were alive.

His sisters said he was a very ‘happy person’ (Picture: Ruptly)

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Another sister, Ihizz Diaz Beato, said: ‘We decided to embalm him like this because he was a very happy person, very active and we want to remember him as he was.’

Police say they have yet to find any leads on the crime and are continuing to investigate.