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CNN Live At Daybreak

Body Count May Double At Georgia Crematorium

Aired February 18, 2002 - 05:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And the latest gruesome discovery at a northwest Georgia crematory may lead investigators to double the number of bodies located on the grounds.

As CNN's Art Harris reports, families are now forced to face their grief again.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ART HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An 18 wheeler on a country road in northwest Georgia, refrigerated, cold enough to keep food fresh but hauling a different load this time and for days or weeks to come -- dead bodies. More than 100 bodies were discovered in makeshift graves or scattered in the woods at a mortuary that was paid to cremate them in rural Walker County, Georgia.

At a press conference, more grizzly details.

SHERIFF STEVE WILSON, WALKER COUNTY, GEORGIA: We discovered one concrete vault stuffed or packed with more human remains. There could be as many as 20 remains in this one concrete vault.

DR. KRIS SPERRY, STATE MEDICAL EXAMINER: This has clearly increased the numbers that we know of dramatically if, indeed, all of those vaults are filled with bodies, and I suspect that they are.

HARRIS: Governor Roy Barnes, who declared the county a disaster area, flew in and met with grieving families.

GOV. ROY BARNES, GEORGIA: They thought they had closure on the death of a loved one and they do not. And then they find in the method in which the remains were disposed of is shocking, is shocking to us all.

HARRIS: Marilyn Crawford says her family received ashes of her brother-in-law, or so they thought. And came from Chattanooga for answers.

MARILYN CRAWFORD: We thought that he was taken care of and died with dignity and buried with dignity and now to find out he's been tossed in a woods or water or in a shed somewhere, you know, it's unthinkable.

HARRIS: Crawford was among dozens of families from Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia who flocked here, some with urns they thought contained ashes of their relatives, instead filled with sand or concrete, say officials, and now considered evidence.

Meanwhile, the man who operated the crematorium, Ray Marsh, who's been charged with five accounts of theft by deception, was released from jail after posting $25,000 bond. Whatever alleged crime may be prosecuted, those who've come here for answers all agree, burying family is sacred, a cultural rite of passage, the governor said, especially sacred in the south, a time to remember and a time to grieve before healing, and not have to grieve again.

Art Harris, CNN, Walker County, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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