Uncremated bodies found in sheds

ATLANTA, Georgia -- Crematorium manager Ray Brent Marsh, whom authorities have accused of dumping bodies in the woods instead of cremating them, was arraigned yesterday on five counts of theft by deception, law enforcement officials in this southeastern US state said.

Authorities said Marsh, 28, accepted payment from families to cremate the bodies of friends and loved ones, but apparently dumped the bodies in the woods or in storage sheds surrounding the crematorium instead.

The Atlanta Herald-Constitution said yesterday as many as 100 corpses had been found in the woods near the Tri-State Crematory in Noble, Georgia, some 240km northwest of Atlanta.

According to media reports, authorities have said the search could yield hundreds of bodies, dating back as far as two decades.

A dog walker stumbled over a skull on Friday, prompting authorities to inspect the site and leading to the discovery.

"There were bodies stacked like firewood, just discarded and thrown in a pile," Georgia Bureau of Investigation assistant director Vernon Keenan told the New York Times.

According to media reports, the facility's furnace had broken down several years ago and the owners could not afford the necessary repairs.

Families who believed they had received the cremated ashes of their deceased relatives had in fact received a mixture of burned wood chips and dirt, officials said.-- Sapa-AFP