Pootertoot
02-17-2002, 09:50 AM
Scores of Bodies Strewn at Site of Crematory
By ROBERT D. McFADDEN
NOBLE, Ga., Feb. 16 - Every funeral director for 100 miles did business with the Tri-State Crematory on the assumption that the owners were doing their job of transforming dead bodies into ashes. But today, horrified authorities discovered decomposing evidence that the furnace at the crematory had not worked for years.
After a dog walker stumbled over a skull on Friday, law enforcement officers discovered at least 120 rotting corpses in sheds and on the ground near the crematory, and state officials said that that figure could double by the time the area is fully examined. Some of the bodies had been there for years and were nearly skeletal, while others, fresh from the funeral home, still bore toe tags.
Human bones, weathered white, were scattered through the woods like leaves, skulls mixed with leg bones in a ghoulish jumble that one state trooper compared to a scene from a Stephen King novel. An infant's body was found in a box in the back of a rusting hearse.
Some bodies had become mummified and may have been at the site more than 20 years, said Dr. Kris Sperry, Georgia's chief medical examiner. Nearly two dozen coffins that had once been buried were also found on the ground, Dr. Sperry said, and in some cases their embalmed contents had been dragged out and left exposed to the elements for years. It was unclear why those bodies were at the site.
Officials said there was apparently no foul play involved with any of the bodies. But even hardened law enforcement officers were left shaken and nauseated by what they saw in the sheds.
"There were bodies stacked like cordwood, just discarded and thrown in a pile," said Vernon Keenan, assistant director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. "After 30 years in law enforcement, you think you've seen everything. And then you see something you can't even imagine."
Dr. Sperry, who deals with corpses every day, said nothing had prepared him for what he saw today.
"I have to say, the utter lack of respect in which they were piled on top of one another was very disturbing," he said.
State officials declared Walker County a disaster area to enable state funds to be spent on the cleanup. They said that apparently the furnace had broken down several years ago and the owners could not afford repairs. The crematory's manager, Ray Brent Marsh, 28, was charged with five counts of theft by deception and was in the county jail tonight. His parents, Ray and Clara Marsh, who own the business, were not charged.
Mr. Keenan said the fraud charges were brought in the absence of any state laws barring inappropriate treatment of corpses.
"We have laws against desecrating graves, but we can't find one against desecration of bodies," he said. "I guess nobody in the Legislature ever thought something like this could happen."
In many cases, families who thought their relatives had been cremated received urns containing what they believed were ashes, but were in fact a mixture of burned wood chips and dirt, officials said. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation urged any families who had received urns through Tri-State to bring them in for examination.
By nightfall, officials had tagged and numbered 80 bodies; they planned to continue their task throughout the week. Earth-moving equipment was ordered, and there was talk of draining a lake on the crematory's property to see what might be on the bottom.
Thirteen bodies were fresh enough to be identified, and some of the families who were notified gathered at a nearby church to exchange tales of shock.
Neva and Tim Mason, accountants who live in nearby La Fayette, were told on Friday night that the body of Mr. Mason's father, Luther P. Mason, had been found. Luther Mason died on Dec. 19, Neva Mason said, and the family believed he had been cremated and his ashes buried at La Fayette Memory Gardens, just down Highway 27 from Noble.
They had had a ceremony at the cemetery, she said, and were shocked to hear that his body had been found at the cr
By ROBERT D. McFADDEN
NOBLE, Ga., Feb. 16 - Every funeral director for 100 miles did business with the Tri-State Crematory on the assumption that the owners were doing their job of transforming dead bodies into ashes. But today, horrified authorities discovered decomposing evidence that the furnace at the crematory had not worked for years.
After a dog walker stumbled over a skull on Friday, law enforcement officers discovered at least 120 rotting corpses in sheds and on the ground near the crematory, and state officials said that that figure could double by the time the area is fully examined. Some of the bodies had been there for years and were nearly skeletal, while others, fresh from the funeral home, still bore toe tags.
Human bones, weathered white, were scattered through the woods like leaves, skulls mixed with leg bones in a ghoulish jumble that one state trooper compared to a scene from a Stephen King novel. An infant's body was found in a box in the back of a rusting hearse.
Some bodies had become mummified and may have been at the site more than 20 years, said Dr. Kris Sperry, Georgia's chief medical examiner. Nearly two dozen coffins that had once been buried were also found on the ground, Dr. Sperry said, and in some cases their embalmed contents had been dragged out and left exposed to the elements for years. It was unclear why those bodies were at the site.
Officials said there was apparently no foul play involved with any of the bodies. But even hardened law enforcement officers were left shaken and nauseated by what they saw in the sheds.
"There were bodies stacked like cordwood, just discarded and thrown in a pile," said Vernon Keenan, assistant director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. "After 30 years in law enforcement, you think you've seen everything. And then you see something you can't even imagine."
Dr. Sperry, who deals with corpses every day, said nothing had prepared him for what he saw today.
"I have to say, the utter lack of respect in which they were piled on top of one another was very disturbing," he said.
State officials declared Walker County a disaster area to enable state funds to be spent on the cleanup. They said that apparently the furnace had broken down several years ago and the owners could not afford repairs. The crematory's manager, Ray Brent Marsh, 28, was charged with five counts of theft by deception and was in the county jail tonight. His parents, Ray and Clara Marsh, who own the business, were not charged.
Mr. Keenan said the fraud charges were brought in the absence of any state laws barring inappropriate treatment of corpses.
"We have laws against desecrating graves, but we can't find one against desecration of bodies," he said. "I guess nobody in the Legislature ever thought something like this could happen."
In many cases, families who thought their relatives had been cremated received urns containing what they believed were ashes, but were in fact a mixture of burned wood chips and dirt, officials said. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation urged any families who had received urns through Tri-State to bring them in for examination.
By nightfall, officials had tagged and numbered 80 bodies; they planned to continue their task throughout the week. Earth-moving equipment was ordered, and there was talk of draining a lake on the crematory's property to see what might be on the bottom.
Thirteen bodies were fresh enough to be identified, and some of the families who were notified gathered at a nearby church to exchange tales of shock.
Neva and Tim Mason, accountants who live in nearby La Fayette, were told on Friday night that the body of Mr. Mason's father, Luther P. Mason, had been found. Luther Mason died on Dec. 19, Neva Mason said, and the family believed he had been cremated and his ashes buried at La Fayette Memory Gardens, just down Highway 27 from Noble.
They had had a ceremony at the cemetery, she said, and were shocked to hear that his body had been found at the cr