Georgia Crematory Operator Apologizes, Offers No Excuse

To the families hoping to learn why Ray Brent Marsh left hundreds of human bodies to rot on his property instead of cremating them, he gave a flat answer on Friday: There was no reason.

In a plea deal that will mean a sentence of 12 years in prison, Marsh admitted to dumping 334 bodies. He also will write individual letters of apology to the survivors of each person whose corpse was found at his Tri-State Crematory. Had the case gone to trial, he faced the possibility of being sentenced to 8,000 years behind bars.

In February 2002, an anonymous tip led federal authorities to the property in Noble, Ga., where they found bodies stacked in vaults, dumped in pits and entangled in garbage and underbrush. The crematory, it turned out, had been distributing sand, concrete dust and random human ashes to families in place of their loved ones’ remains.

Friends and neighbors were astonished by the arrest of Marsh -- who came from a prominent and respected family -- and have spent years now wondering why he did it.

Holding a Bible, Marsh on Friday faced a glaring and teary-eyed crowd whose relatives’ bodies were found at the site.

“The answers that many of you have come here today to hear I cannot give you. Not for lack of desire to give those answers, but for lack of the answer,” Marsh said evenly. “To those individuals who were genuinely harmed emotionally as a result of my actions, I apologize.”

One woman twisted around in her seat, refusing to watch Marsh apologize; a man got up and left the courtroom. In the rain outside, family members criticized the plea bargain, complaining that prosecutors didn’t take the case to trial simply to save money.

Since the first bodies were discovered, a picture has emerged of Marsh as an ambivalent heir to the family business.

After finishing high school with a perfect attendance record, he got a football scholarship and became a starting linebacker at the University of Tennessee, with a planned major in business management. But he dropped out of school less than a year away from graduation and returned home to Noble.

It was not his choice: His father, who operated the crematory, had suffered a stroke, and Brent was “morally obligated or asked” to come back home, said his attorney, McCracken Poston.

“Let’s put it this way: Those children ... would do anything to please their mama,” said Pat Allen, 61, a cousin and neighbor.

Back in Walker County, Marsh eventually married and became a father. But the crematory business, which offered pickup and delivery services to a variety of local funeral homes, may have been more than he could handle on his own, said Robert Smalley, who represented 1,600 family members in a civil suit against the crematory.

State investigators have estimated that from 1997 to 2002, more than 900 bodies were given to Marsh to cremate.

“I think he just got behind and it snowballed,” Smalley said. “Think about your desk at work -- things start to stack up. I think he intended at some point to do them. I don’t think he started out with bad motives, but it certainly got out of control.”

Marsh’s father, Tommy Ray Marsh, opened the crematory in 1982. “Brent’s been around the death industry since he was 6, 7, 8 years old,” Poston said. “It could be that it didn’t have the impact on him.”

The discoveries outraged the community. Marsh wore a bulletproof vest at an early court appearance, and in a motion for change of venue, Poston said that Marsh had “information that the Ku Klux Klan, an organization with a chapter in Walker County, has claimed to be ‘monitoring’ the defendant.”

Marsh will next appear in court for a sentencing hearing on Jan. 31, at which family members will give victim impact statements. He will receive credit for the 12 months he served while awaiting trial, and get his first chance for parole within three to four years, Poston said. He also has been ordered to pay a $20,000 fine.

Since he was freed on bail last November, Marsh has been living in his mother’s house and wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet. Clara Marsh has accompanied him to all his court appearances. At the hearing Friday, Marsh’s most heartfelt apology was to the members of his family seated in the front row.

“You have endured so much pain and condemnation by officials and parts of the community whom you have always tried to help, who rushed to accuse, bowing to political pressure and all the while knowing the truth,” he said.

Tracy Oden, whose mother’s body was found on the property, said there was little mystery surrounding Marsh’s actions.

“He’s lazy and he’s become desensitized to that business,” said Oden, 38, of Atlanta. “I think he just [operated the crematory] because he had to. When you’re doing a job you really don’t want to do, you fail.”

Outside the courthouse, Sara Lee Red, 79, said that in coming to the hearing, she had defied the advice of her priest, her children and numerous members of her church. Marsh had dumped the body of her husband, Walter, who died in 2001.

“I felt like to satisfy myself, I had to come down here and take a good look at that man,” she said. “I just want to look at him. That’s it.”