Associated Press
NOBLE, Ga. — Distraught families began the wrenching task of trying to identify loved ones Sunday in this rural community where dozens of decomposing corpses were being removed from a crematory.
Authorities said they had recovered 97 bodies — including one infant — from storage sheds and scattered in woods behind Tri-State Crematory in this hamlet about 25 miles south of Chattanooga, Tenn.
The final toll is expected to be at least 200, said Dr. Kris Sperry, Georgia’s chief medical examiner. Sixteen people have been identified so far. The discoveries began Friday when a woman walking her dog found a skull.
"We’re just barely skimming the surface," Sperry said. "Some of the remains are mummified."
Gov. Roy Barnes declared a state of emergency Saturday so local officials could receive state assistance. He visited Noble Sunday afternoon and had a private meeting with about a hundred people who believed their loved ones were at the crematory.
"They are mad," Barnes said. "They are angry. I would be upset too. They thought they had closure on the death of a loved one and they do not."
There are only two crematory inspectors in Georgia, said Gary McConnell, director of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. He said only crematories that deal directly with the public have to be inspected, and that Tri-State was never inspected because it worked only with funeral homes.
Investigators believe the crematory had stacked the corpses for up to 15 years.
"They just piled them on top and then piled more on top. And then they just left them," Sperry said. "I wish we had a good explanation for this, but we don’t."
The crematory’s operator, Ray Brent Marsh, 28, was charged with five counts of theft by deception, a felony, for taking payment for cremations he didn’t perform. Walker County and state authorities said other charges are likely against Marsh.
A magistrate released Marsh on Sunday after he posted a $25,000 bond.
Officials, who have set up a morgue on the site, said they will also search Marsh’s entire 16-acre property and a small adjoining lake.
When asked why the bodies had not been cremated, Marsh said the crematory incinerator was not working, Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead said late Saturday.
Sperry said authorities suspect Marsh may have provided ashes from wood chips to clients as the remains of loved ones. Authorities have asked families to return ashes for examination and have established an information center.
Associated Press
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