Crematory Operator Faces 56 New Counts

Authorities filed 56 additional charges Tuesday against a northwest Georgia crematory operator accused of discarding hundreds of corpses he was paid to cremate.

The new charges bring to 174 the number of counts of theft by deception against Ray Brent Marsh, who remains in Walker County Jail. A magistrate denied Marsh bond Monday, noting that investigators were likely to file further charges.

So far, 339 bodies have been discovered dumped in pits, left in sheds and stacked in vaults at the Tri-State Crematory. Officials said 100 bodies have been identified.

“Hopefully we have found all of them,” Walker County Emergency Management Agency Director David Ashburn said Tuesday. “We are scaling back now.”

Ashburn said all but about one acre of pine grove has been cleared and the ground scraped several feet deep.

The draining of a lake at the back of the 16-acre crematory grounds is expected to be completed by the end of the week. A torso and skull that were previously spotted in the lake have not been recovered, Ashburn said.

He said inspections of areas around the edge of the lake as the water level started dropping turned up no bodies. Officials said the silty lake bottom would have to dry for an additional week before they could finish inspecting it.

The charges against Marsh accuse him of taking payment to cremate the dead but then passing off cement powder and dirt as ashes.

Investigators have said Marsh told them the incinerator was broken.

But on Monday, authorities disclosed for the first time that the incinerator is working properly. State emergency agency spokeswoman Lisa Ray said the machine’s manufacturer successfully tested it last week.

In another disclosure, prosecutor Buzz Franklin said investigators had discovered photos of decomposed bodies on Marsh’s office computer. Franklin did not say why Marsh was storing the photos and declined to elaborate.

Magistrate Judge Jerry Day, noting more charges were likely, denied Marsh bail for a third time. Prosecutors said they were worried Marsh might be killed if he is released.

Sheriff Steve Wilson testified that at a victims’ meeting one woman said she wanted to hang Marsh, and the threat was met with thunderous applause.

Defense attorney Ken Poston criticized the prosecution for discussing the threats.

“If that isn’t inviting trouble and torches and ropes, then I don’t know what is,” Poston said.