She could have been one of about 9,000 fans at Michael Jackson’s memorial on Tuesday.

Sherry Moschella, a Gainesville resident, won two tickets to attend the memorial but couldn’t find transportation in enough time.

"I’m just really upset by the time frame because they didn’t give enough time to set up anything," she said Tuesday afternoon while watching the memorial on her television.

Moschella entered the online ticket giveaway contest on the Staples Center Web site after hearing about it on local news channels.

"I thought my chances of winning were zero to none but entered it anyway," she laughed. "I play the lottery all the time and never win."

The contest deadline was Saturday at 6 p.m. and she received a congratulatory e-mail on Sunday at 3 p.m. saying she needed to pick up an armband for the event by Monday at 6 p.m. in Los Angeles. She immediately began looking for plane tickets but found zero available seats.

"Every single flight was booked. I looked at Amtrak and also thought about driving, but that’s almost 33 hours and wouldn’t get me there in time," she said. "If I had a few more days to get everything arranged, I could have gone spur of the moment. The only thing I can do now is watch it on TV."

More than 1.6 million people registered for the lottery for free tickets to Jackson’s memorial. A total of 8,750 were chosen to receive two tickets each. Deputy Police Chief Sergio Diaz, operations chief for the event, said authorities had expected a crowd of 250,000. Besides reporters and those with tickets to the memorial service, the crowd around the Staples Center perimeter numbered only about 1,000, he said. Moschella attributes this to the difficult traveling.

"I think people just couldn’t get there in time," she said. "I saw on local news that a couple from Atlanta couldn’t get out on a flight, and the armband deadline was extended at the last minute from 6 p.m. Monday to 7:30 because of a lower turnout."

Moschella said she wanted to attend the memorial because she grew up watching Jackson in the Jackson 5 and followed his music. She named her top three favorite songs — "Thriller," "Billie Jean" and "Man in the Mirror" — and admires his career as an entertainer.

"We’ve all heard bad things about him and bad jokes, but I just don’t think they’re very funny," she said. "I don’t think he was the type of person the media made him out to be. He was a boy locked in a man’s body who never had a childhood. I think the people who accused him of molestation knew he was a huge celebrity and tried to make money off him."

Media coverage has also made his death and funeral extensive, she said.

"People say there are three people the whole world knows, the Pope, Queen Elizabeth and Michael Jackson, and the last one because he’s been around since he was 6 and is a worldwide entertainer," she said. "But it’s becoming like Anna Nicole Smith where they’re arguing about what happens with the kids and his burial. I don’t understand why it keeps dragging out."

It was not clear Tuesday what will happen to Jackson’s body. The Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills cemetery is the final resting place for such stars as Bette Davis, Andy Gibb, Freddie Prinze, Liberace and recently deceased David Carradine and Ed McMahon.

Jermaine Jackson has expressed a desire to have him buried someday at Neverland, his estate in Southern California.

Midway during the memorial service, police Officer April Harding told the media gathered at the gates of Forest Lawn to disperse. Asked if Jackson’s body was going to be returned to the cemetery after the memorial, she replied: "His body is not going to be returned here." She did not say where it would be taken.

"All of this coverage has been like Princess Diana’s funeral," Moschella said. "Even when Elvis died, there weren’t tickets given away."