Tri-State Crematory scandal

The Tri-State Crematorium was located on the north side of La Fayette, Georgia in the northwest part of the state. The crematorium provided cremation services for funeral homes in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. It was the site of one of the most horrible abuses in the funeral service industry: on February 16, 2002 it was discovered that over three hundred corpses that were supposed to have been cremated were disposed of on the grounds in a very disrespectful manner.

Background

For many years, the crematorium had provided cremation services for a number of funeral homes. The crematorium was founded by Ray Marsh in the mid 1970's. Many funeral homes who did not have their own cremation facilities shipped bodies to Tri-State in order to have cremations performed.

In the mid 1990's, the health of Ray Marsh deteoriated to the point where he was bedridden most of the time. At that time his son, Ray Brent Marsh took over the operations of the crematory.

The Discovery of the Bodies and the Aftermath

The Environmental Protection Agency office in Atlanta received an anoymous tip. They sent officers out to investigate the property, they found a skull and some bones that were human in origin. On February 15, 2002, investigators stumbled onto the grisley scene in Nobel. Piles of rotting human bodies were discovered in a storage shed, in vaults, or throughout the property.

Some time after Brent Marsh took over the business, he stopped performing cremations. He instead disposed of the bodies by burying them, placing them in a storage shed, or simply dumping them in the woods behind the crematory. He would often return what appeared to be ashes to the families. On later investigation these turned out to be concrete dust or wood chips. At the time invesigators thought that some of the remains found were there for 15 years. However later testing proved that the bodies had only been there at most since the late 1990's.

Brent Marsh tried to claim that the cremation oven was broken. However the oven was tested and it was found to be in working order. Several crematory operators have said that even if the machine had broken down that maintenance would have kept the incinerator working, and that if it had suddenly broken down that Marsh should have made arrangments to get it working right away. They said most manufactures have regular maintenance programs available.

The motives behind Brent Marsh's actions are unclear. One Mississippi operator said that it would have been far less trouble to simply cremate a body than to do what Brent Marsh had done. In the weeks following the discovery, prosecutors said that pornography and photos of bodies in various stages of decomposition had been discovered on Marsh's computer.

Identification

A Federal disaster team was brought into the area, along with a portable morgue that was shipped in from Maryland. They began the process of identifying the dead. Since many were in advanced stages of decomposition, and some were little more than skeletons this proved difficult. Eventually over 330 bodies were discovered, and about 200 were identified.

In most cases, if there is a living relative remains could be identified through DNA testing. However for those who did not have a living relative available for testing, officals would most likely never be able to identify their bodies.

The Criminal Case

Brent Marsh was arrested on over 300 felony charges. These were mainly theft by deception. He continues to await trial on these charges.

The Civil Case

Attorneys for the families whose loved ones were victims of Tri-State began filing lawsuits against the business and the funeral homes that shipped the bodies to the crematory. The plantiffs were eventually granted class-action status.

Eventually a deal was reached where the property of the Marsh family was sold. The family did not have much in the way of assets to pay all the claims against them.

Recent Events

Attorneys for the plaintiffs have stated that it is their intent to tear down all the crematory buildings. After that is done they plan to return the property to a natural, park like state. They said that it would be kept that way permantly as a way of honoring the victims of Tri-State Crematory.

Some Reasons Why this Tradgey Occured

The motives behind Brent Marsh's decision to dispose of the bodies instead of cremating them is not known. His motives may never be known. However many in the funeral industry and government point to a lack of inspections, and lack of regulation as reasons why this tradgey occured.

One of the causes of this tragedy was the lack of inspections by the funeral homes that used the crematory. Many of the funeral homes never inspected the premisis to insure that cremations were being carried out. They never did a through investigation of the business to learn their operating procedures, or ensure these operating practices were being carried out by witnessing an actual cremation at the site.

The Cremation Society of North America had said that funeral homes should only use reputable crematoriums for the cremation of bodies. Funeral homes should also only use crematoriums that they trust. The Society also said that to treat the bodies in the manner that Tri-State treated them was an abuse of the most sacred trust people placed in the funeral service - a sentiment that most in the funeral services industry has echoed.

Also, lack of good regulation and enforcement may have had a role to play in what had happened. Even though Georgia had regulations on the books, there was a loophole that allowed crematories like Tri-State that only dealt with funeral homes to operate without a license. Also, because of that the authorities in Georgia did not perform investigations on Tri-State. Since that time Georgia has moved to tighten regulations.

Consumer advocates and funeral service insiders had said that in some parts of the country regulation had been somewhat weak. Other than EPA emissions regulations, the Funeral Consumers Alliance said crematoriums had been underregulated for a while. Some states did not even have laws on their books. In Michigan, a funeral director who served as a lawmaker found that neligent disposal of a body was not a crime, he then moved to correct that oversight.

While most states have good regulation, there is sometimes a lack of enforcement. Ohio, for example, has laws on the books but was unable to enforce them for a time because of a lack of trained inspectors.