Grim search for US crematorium bodies

It will take another two weeks to complete the search

Authorities in the American state of Georgia say they now expect to recover at least 200 bodies from the grounds of a crematorium as the search continues.

I wish we had a good explanation for this, but we don't

Dr Kris Sperry
Georgia's chief medical examiner

Corpses have been found stacked in storage sheds and scattered in woods around Tri-State Crematory in the small town of Noble.

Ninety-eight bodies - including one infant - have been recovered from the site since Friday when a dog, which was being walked by its owner, unearthed a human skull.

But a local sheriff said another hundred bodies have been found in containers.

Crematorium operator Ray Brent Marsh, 28, has been charged with five counts of theft by deception for taking payment for cremations he did not perform.

Mr Marsh, who took over the business from his parents in 1996, was released on $25,000 bail on Sunday.

When asked why the bodies had not been cremated, he is reported to have said that the incinerator was not working.

'No explanation'

The authorities suspect that Mr Marsh provided ashes from wood chips to clients, saying they were the remains of loved ones.

A makeshift morgue has been set up at the site and relatives are coming forward to identify bodies. Sixteen have so far been identified.

Dr Kris Sperry, Georgia's chief medical examiner, said: "We're just barely skimming the surface. Some of the remains are mummified."

He added that the authorities believed the crematorium had been dumping the corpses for up to 15 years.

Investigators plan to search Marsh's entire 16-acre property

"They just piled them on top and then piled more on top. And then they just left them," said Dr Sperry.

"I wish we had a good explanation for this, but we don't."

Investigators plan to search Mr Marsh's entire 16-acre property and a small adjoining lake over the next two weeks.

Anger

The BBC's Fergal Parkinson, who is in Noble, says people in the town are angry that this was allowed to take place without the knowledge of local authorities.

He adds that relatives of the dead have begun to arrive, many carrying urns which detectives now say do not contain the ashes of their loved ones.

Police say the final count could be many hundreds

Stanley Payne said he had believed the crematorium owners would properly handle the remains of his mother, who died two years ago.

"We were childhood friends growing up together," he said. "We trusted them. Everybody trusts everybody here, and everybody believes everybody."

State of emergency

Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead said that between 25 and 30 funeral homes in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama had routinely sent bodies to Tri-State for cremation.

Some of the bodies had been delivered to the crematorium within the past few days and some bore hospital toe tags, he added. Others were found in rusty coffins.

Georgia Governor Roy Barnes has declared a state of emergency in the area.

The declaration makes state assistance in the form of personnel and funding available to local authorities.

The Georgia Environmental Protection Division has begun testing well water from the area for contaminants.