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Georgia Crematorium Corpse
Count Close To 300

2-22-2


(AFP) - The number of bodies recovered from a Georgia crematorium at the center of a grisly funeral scandal rose to 283, as officials were served a gag order not to comment on the search.

Authorities are searching Tri-State Crematory in Noble, Georgia, after its operator allegedly failed to carry out the contracted cremation of bodies, dumping them in woods and vaults at the crematory grounds, and on land behind his home.

Crematorium operator Brent Ray Marsh, 28, has been charged with 16 counts of theft by deception, after the scandal came to light last weekend when a man walking his dog near the site stumbled over a skull.

Late Wednesday, only 35 of the corpses had been positively identified by grieving relatives or friends.

Human remains were being removed to a "mobile mortuary," at a secret location off-site to be processed, in an operation that is costing some one million dollars a day, with some 400 local, state and federal workers involved, officials said.

However, judicial authorities issued a gag order as officials and reporters gathered for a news conference Thursday afternoon, to stop further details of the search emerging in public.

Authorities said they would no longer comment on the search while under the gag order, imposed by Walker County Superior Court Judge Ralph Hill.

And state governor Roy Barnes said he had asked President George W. Bush to declare a federal state of emergency in the county, due to "significant environmental degradation."

In a letter, Barnes also told Bush in a letter that "many more bodies are likely to be discovered."

As well as examining the contents of a number of vaults at the crematory, officials are digging in a few acres of wooded land on its grounds, and may drain a pond in which an underwater camera revealed a skull and torso.

Marsh's backyard is also under scrutiny, after recovery workers discovered at least nine corpses, some of them thrown one on top of another.

Authorities are also trying to determine if Marsh used septic tanks he bought to hide more bodies.

He accepted bodies from 30 funeral homes in three states and was paid approximately 300 dollars per cremation.

Marsh's father, Rhames Marsh, started the family-run business in the 1970s and turned it over to his son in the mid-90s.

The elder Marsh is bed-ridden and has been moved out of his house on the grounds of the crematorium. He has not been charged.


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