- (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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