Crematory Operator Gets 12 Years

A former crematory operator who discarded hundreds of corpses he was paid to cremate was sentenced to 12 years in prison Monday after distraught relatives of some of the dead were given their chance to address him.

Ray Brent Marsh, 31, offered an apology but no explanation for leaving the bodies of 334 people on the property of his northwest Georgia crematorium.

“I can’t give you the answers that you want, but I can apologize,” he told the court. “I ask forgiveness for my sins.”

More than two dozen relatives spoke for six hours at the hearing as Marsh listened impassively. A man showed photos of his wife’s corpse. A woman displayed her painting of her sister’s urn and ashes.

“How did you eat and sleep knowing the bodies were in the backyard?” asked Letha Shropshire of LaFayette, whose mother’s corpse was among those found on the property of the Tri-State Crematory in Noble, Ga.

In February 2002, federal authorities, acting on an anonymous tip, discovered hundreds of bodies scattered on the ground and in vaults. Marsh had been passing off sand and concrete dust as human ashes.

In November, Marsh pleaded guilty to 787 counts, including abusing a corpse and burial service fraud. In addition to the 12-year prison sentence, he was ordered to pay a $20,000 fine and required to write letters of apology to the 226 families of people whose bodies were identified. More than 100 bodies remain unidentified.

Since the scam was discovered, the close-knit community of rural Walker County struggled to contain its anger. At a local meeting three years ago, a woman said she wanted to see Marsh hanged; her comment was met with thunderous applause. With the threats against Marsh growing, his trial was moved out of the county in 2003.

In the courtroom Monday, somber faces stared at Marsh, who sat bolt upright as he listened to the relatives’ stories.

Karen Gruber, dressed in black, held up pictures of her sister, Shelaine Johnston. “I don’t hate you,” Gruber, of Boaz, Ala., said calmly to Marsh. “I just have enormous curiosity about you.

“Please, Brent, allow me some time to speak with you one on one,” she said. “I’m not going to scream at you. I’ll try not to cry. Only you can set me free. Only you.”

Ann Bailey of Chattanooga, Tenn., said few words. She showed the courtroom a vivid abstract painting of an urn and ashes. “This is an expression of my feelings and I present it to Mr. Marsh,” she said.

The crowd gasped when Sheila Manis, of Chatsworth, Ga., said she forgave Marsh for leaving the body of her husband, Ira, outside to be gnawed on by rodents. “If it was up to me, you’d go home today,” she said. Manis said she “saw a scared little boy who affected more lives than he could begin to imagine.”

Many relatives said the sentencing was lenient. Julie Goswell Kinder of Chattanooga, whose father’s corpse was found outside the crematory, asked the judge to impose the maximum penalty.

“You’re a sicko, in my opinion,” she told Marsh.

Facing the families after they spoke, Marsh did not flinch. “I will not cry when I go into my jail cell. I will not whimper,” he said.