Police find dozens of bodies stacked, discarded at Georgia crematory

By BILL POOVEY, Sun-Sentinel, Posted February 18 2002, 2:34 PM EST

Sun-Sentinel

NOBLE, Ga. -- The operator of a north Georgia crematory where dozens of corpses were found was arrested for a second time and charged with 11 more counts of theft by deception, authorities said Monday.

Ray Brent Marsh, 28, had been arrested Saturday and released from jail Sunday after posting $25,000 bond on five original charges of theft by deception. He was arrested again Sunday night.

A call to Marsh was not immediately returned, and calls to the crematory were answered by a recording directing callers to the sheriff's office.

A bond hearing was scheduled Monday afternoon.

Authorities returned on Monday to grounds near the Tri-State Crematory, where they had recovered 97 bodies stacked in storage sheds and discarded in woods.

Officials have said they expect to find as many as 200 bodies at the crematory, including some that had likely been decomposing for up to 15 years.

Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson said authorities were asking relatives of people whose bodies had been sent to the crematory for any information that might help identify their loved ones, including surgical scars and dental records.

He said investigators were continuing the search, ``bagging and tagging'' the bodies as they find them.

Like hundreds of residents in this hamlet, Lisa Cash can't understand how anyone could leave her mother's body to rot alongside piles of other human remains.

Cash's mother, Norma Hutton, 55, died Dec. 31 of kidney failure. Based on her deceased mother's wishes, Cash asked for the remains to be cremated. They weren't.

Now Cash must try to reconcile for her kids the newly uncovered body of their grandmother with the urn that they were told contained her remains.

``They don't understand. How can granny be there and here too?'' Cash said of her four children, ages 13, 12, 11 and 8. ``I explained: `Somebody lied.'''

Investigators said Marsh told them the bodies were not cremated because the incinerator was broken.

``They just piled them on top and then piled more on top. And then they just left them,'' said Dr. Kris Sperry, Georgia's chief medical examiner. ``I wish we had a good explanation for this, but we don't.''

Authorities said they recovered 97 bodies _ including one infant _ from storage sheds and in the woods behind the crematory. Sixteen have been identified.

``We're just barely skimming the surface,'' Sperry said. ``Some of the remains are mummified.''

Between 25 and 30 funeral homes in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama routinely sent bodies to Tri-State for cremation.

One day after declaring a state of emergency to provide financial assistance to help identify remains, Gov. Roy Barnes visited Noble and met privately Sunday 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.''

Georgia Emergency Management director Gary McConnell said the state would pay the cost of identifying the bodies.

There are two crematory inspectors in Georgia, said McConnell. 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.

Officials denied reporters access to the 16-acre tract but photographers who flew over the area about 25 miles south of Chattanooga said they could see lines of white body bags.

``I have no idea how this happened,'' Samuel Marsh, who is Marsh's brother, said in a telephone interview Sunday. ``It's just crazy to me.''

The crematory owners, Ray and Clara Marsh, turned the business over to their son in 1996. The couple has turned over company records to authorities and were cooperating, Walker County chief deputy Hill Morrison said.

Families on Sunday completed Red Cross paperwork to help identify the bodies and several dentists opened their offices to make dental records available. Counselors also were on hand.

Authorities are asking families to return ashes for testing. Officials suspect ashes from wood chips were provided to funeral home customers instead of the remains of loved ones.

Gwendolyn Walton, of Chattanooga, Tenn., carried a silver-colored plastic urn as she walked to the Walker County Civic Center with her two adult sons Sunday.

The urn is supposed to contain the cremated remains of her husband, the Rev. Robert G. Walton, who died Nov. 2 from heart failure.

``In my heart after hearing about this situation, I really didn't want to pass judgment,'' said one of the sons, Terrance Walton. ``I just need to find out if this is my father's remains.''

___

On the Net:

Walker County sheriff: http://www.co.walker.ga.us/cd_14.htm

Georgia Bureau of Investigation: http://www.state.ga.us/gbi

Copyright © 2002, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

Answers

One question: didn't anyblody nptoice a funny smell? I mean, when I lived in Little Rock you could smell the paper mills from Pine Bluff when the wind was blowing briskly from the south, and I have a feeling the smell of those bodies was every bit as putrid. Maybe the funeral home prior to the crematory had embalmed them--but still.

And why did this happen? 'Cause the burner was broke. For fiteen years. Oh, okay.

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

I'm guessing it smells funny there anyway...

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

I grew up in the county next to Walker. My county was Catoosa. Now my own personal history lesson being finished, I'll add some comment to this horrible story.

The area in question isn't near as rural as it was 20-25 years ago, but isn't to be considered a big town. Sometimes, people own huge amounts of land, and it is possible that the owner of the crematory had a large amount of land. Nobile is getting kinda 'out there', and isn't near as large as Rossville, Dalton, Ft. Oglethorpe, or other towns. Some of the people are strange in that area. (Think 'Deliverance') People don't generally as a rule stick their nose into other peoples business.

I'm not trying to make up excuses, just trying to give you some background on the location.

One good thing about the area (or bad depending upon your views), sometimes situations like this have a way of working themselves out. A majority of the people are still stuck with attitudes of the deep south in the 50's.

I'm glad that I escaped the area, eventhough the land is beautiful.

There are a few chemical plants, carpet plants, and paper plants in the area. That could be the reason that the smell wasn't that bad. Heck, I can remember smelling a paper plant that was 50 miles away if the 'wind was right'.

Me, that man just best be glad that it wasn't one of my family members. I'd hate to drive all the way back there just to kick his sick a$$.

I'll try to find more about this from my mother next time I talk to her. I guess the story hadn't broke on the news when I talked to her Saturday morning.

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

I just spoke to my Mom and Dad. Seems like there was 4 temporary morgues brought in today and they were already filled. Dad seems to think that the total is now above 200 by listening to the local news.

And the gross part is, he said on the local news it is reported that the owners (the guy's parents) used to have a BBQ joint down there. Seems it closed a few years ago because the meat wasn't good. I don't even want to think about it, but it is possible.

Mom knows someone that is trying to identify one of the bodies. It was that ladies sister. My brother-in-laws mother lives about a mile from the site.

Gross! Yuck!

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

I need to clarify something I typed in earlier.

At the time when I typed in that sometimes good things (or bad depending upon your view) happen that things sort of take care of themselves around those parts, I didn't know that the man was black.

God, I hope that none of you think I meant something that I didn't. It is a sad fact, but a true fact, that his color will only hurt him in those parts.

God, I am so glad that I escaped that area.

I pray for the families of those that had to do business with that company. Hopefully once and for all they will have closure, even though they must endure more pain, and the worst kind of pain.

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

There was a report that the guy obtained seven permits (I think it was) for ginormous septic tanks. . .

-- Anonymous, February 20, 2002

I don't think ginormous is legal in my state...

-- Anonymous, February 20, 2002

Didn't see anything wrong anywhere about what you posted, apoc.

We have a similar type thing going on down here. Graves being shared by different bodies, that sort of thing. the state is checking things out.

If I can find the story, I'll post it.

-- Anonymous, February 20, 2002

I had to go and check the four tins in the closet. They look okay, certainly not cement dust or gravel. I'd hate to think the cats were rotting somewhere instead of napping eternally in the closet.

-- Anonymous, February 20, 2002

This story gets stranger and stranger. Apparently, they have found at least one body in the lake/pond there and have told people not to drink their well water.

They have also located a few bodies at Ray Brent Marsh's house close by. I'm unsure if they were outside or inside his house. Hopefully he didn't have them sitting up in chairs.

One of the local news stations there had a story where they had contacted the maker of the machine and that there had been one service call in the early 80s then a part ordered later than that. Seems like the guy spent a ton of money on the steel vaults and septic tanks that he was using for storage. They say he actually spent more money buying those than the cost of the repairs.

Estimates currently are 8 months to clean up and between 5 and 10 million bucks! With the vaults/tanks they found today, they expect the count to go over 300.

-- Anonymous, February 20, 2002

Maybe he's just a real bad procrastinator.

-- Anonymous, February 20, 2002