Four more vaults at the Tri-State Crematory were opened and found filled with bodies and a special federal portable morgue and team of experts that worked the World Trade Center disaster is being brought in to help in the probe.

Authorities, investigating what Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson called "a national tragedy," said that ashes represented as remains of 51 cremated persons and returned to families from the Noble, Ga., crematory have been brought back and tested. So far, nine have been determined to be not human remains and appear to be powdered cement.

Officials said the number of local, state and federal personnel working the case has grown to more than 400.

The operator of the crematory, Brent Marsh, was arrested again on Sunday night after 11 additional felony charges were filed against him. A hearing has been postponed to allow him to consult with an attorney. The charges each carry 1-15 years.

Sheriff Wilson said that authorities are looking into bringing charges against other individuals in the case.

Officials said as late Monday afternoon that 139 bodies had been found. They said 27 had been identified.

One vault was opened Sunday and four more early Monday.

Dr. Kris Sperry, Georgia chief medical examiner, said once the sealed lids were removed from the four additional vaults, "we found they also were filled with human remains. We can't begin to count the number of bodies. It's incomprehensible."

The special federal Disaster Morgue Response Team (DMRT) being brought in to help in the investigation will provide an 800-square-foot morgue and 16 specialists who worked on the identification of bodies at the World Trade Center.

Families and funeral homes dealing with the Marsh family had thought the bodies sent there were immediately cremated. Officials said the crematory was not in working order and may not have been used for years.

Sheriff Wilson said the new felony charges are the same as the five lodged previously - theft by deception.

He said Marsh at first could not be located on Sunday night. He said family members finally contacted him, and he turned himself in. Marsh earlier made a $25,000 bond.

Marsh is being held at the Walker County Detention Center in LaFayette. He was represented initially by attorney Bill Mullinax.

Sheriff Wilson said Brent Marsh was "somewhat cooperative" on Friday, but he has not been questioned further after telling authorities on Saturday that he wanted to speak with an attorney.

The sheriff said the Marshes turned over scanty records - dating from last October to February of this year.

Officials said they are continuing to scour woods on the Marsh property to seek bodies in shallow graves. Sheriff Wilson said it appeared some bodies had been "dragged out into the woods and just dumped there."

Dr. Sperry said handling the remains and identifying bodies is a massive, complex task. He said "some are just skulls with no teeth. We are finding isolated bones. It's like taking 100 crossword puzzles, dumping them on the floor and then trying to work them upside down."

Dr. Sperry said workers "are doing the very best job they can - under horrific circumstances."

Officials are also expected to drag a pond on the Marsh property to see if bodies were thrown in it. Residents said the Marshes allowed members of the community to fish there, and it has a pavilion by it.

Dewayne Wilson, Walker County coroner, said every effort is being made to identify the bodies as soon as possible "so the families can have closure."

He said the bodies, after they are identified, will go back to the funeral home involved and family members will decide what to do with them after that.

Sheriff Wilson said, "It's not over. We have a long road ahead of us. We ask everyone's patience."

On Sunday, Sheriff Wilson said a vault that was "stuffed with bodies" was uncovered at the crematory and there are 5-6 similar vaults on the 16-acre property.

"We didn't think this nightmare could get any worse, but it has," Sheriff Wilson said.

Meanwhile, Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes came by helicopter to Noble, Ga., on Sunday to meet with upset family members at the site of the crematory.

Gov. Barnes said he told some 75 family members of his outrage and said he understood what they were feeling.

The governor also pledged to work toward passing a state law to regulate cremation services, and he pledged full state aid in dealing with the situation.

"I told them I wished I had a magic wand that would make all this go away, but I don't. But we will supply all the state help we can and we will fully investigate and prosecute those responsible," the governor said.

Officials said one infant body has been found amid the pile of human remains.

Officials said the gruesome process of collecting bodies and identifying them may take weeks or months.

The operator of the crematory on Sunday morning made a $25,000 bond prior to his arrest on additinal charges. He resides on the property about half a mile off Highway 27 just north of LaFayette.

Marsh, 28, spent the night in the Walker County Jail Saturday night, then he appeared before Magistrate Sheila Thompson Sunday morning. She set the bond at $25,000, and he immediately posted it and was released.

He took over operation of the facility in 1996 from his parents, Ray and Clara Marsh. Officials said the elder Marsh is bedridden and may not be charged in the case, though some of the bodies may have been brought to the facility long before 1996.

Dr. Sperry said Sunday, “I have never seen anything like this. None of my professional colleagues in the work that I do around this country have ever seen anything like this, and frankly, I hope never to again. It’s very disturbing because of the way in which these people were treated.”

State Rep. Mike Snow, D-Chickamauga and chairman of the House Public Safety Committee, said, "The sanctity and dignity of human life is on trial here. It’s a black eye for Walker County, if this is the case, and I hate that my colleagues have to see this kind of situation. I’m certainly appalled with the situation.”

The uncremated human remains were found on the grounds and in buildings of the crematory at Noble, Ga., near LaFayette, officials announced at a Saturday afternoon press conference at the 911 Center in Rock Spring.

Sheriff Wilson announced then that the crematory operator had surrendered at his office and was being held at the jail pending a hearing.

Because of the enormity of the task in searching for and recovering and identifying the bodies, which one official said could eventually number in the hundreds, Gov. Barnes declared a state of emergency in Walker County which will allow the state to assist in the recovery of bodies and paying for proper burial.

Sheriff Wilson said he doesn’t know “how many thousands of dollars it will take” before the investigation is complete.

District Attorney Buzz Franklin of the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit said the warrants charge Marsh with “theft by deception” alleging that he had a fiduciary obligation to cremate the bodies and took money for it, but did not fulfill his obligation. He said there was no specific law on the books dealing with mishandling of bodies.

Dr. Sperry said he wanted it clear that the crematory site is “not a crime scene” in the traditional since in that there are “no homicide victims or victims of violence.” All of the deceased, he said “died of whatever cause in hospitals and nursing homes. None of the bodies come from missing persons' lists.”

The bodies, he said, were delivered to the crematory to be cremated but that was never done, and the bodies were dumped on the grounds and in outbuildings of the facility.

The investigation, search for and recovery of bodies and remains “may take several weeks,” he said, and “I would not be surprised” if the number reaches “several hundred.”

Participating in the investigation and in the press conference, in addition to Sheriff Wilson, Dr. Sperry and District Attorney Franklin, were Dewayne Wilson, Walker County coroner; Gary McConnell, director of Georgia Emergency Management Agency; Vernon Keenan, assistant director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation; David Ashburn, with 911; and State Rep. Mike Snow.

Sheriff Wilson outlined events that precipitated the investigation and leading up to the Saturday afternoon press conference and described it as “a trying time for all of use.”

He said the Environmental Protection Agency had received an anonymous tip and arrived at the crematory Friday afternoon. After they found a human skull in the woods, they immediately notified the sheriff who arrived to speak to the crematory operator and was allowed access to the property. He said Marsh had been cooperative with the investigators.

He said they found human remains in the woods, some in caskets and some scattered on the ground and then proceeded to outbuildings which Marsh opened for them. He said that when they opened the first building, “I don’t believe anyone expected to see what they saw.” He said there were “30-plus bodies recently deceased” stacked and lying around in the building. Other buildings contained more bodies.

GBI Director Kennon said Georgia State Patrol had been called in to provide security at the scene to keep the curious out. He said there would be “no photos of dead bodies” to cause more distress to the families.

Mr. McConnell said the main concern was to “handle the remains with dignity and return them to the proper funeral homes” for proper disposition.

Dr. Sperry said the task would not be complete until “all the remains have been recovered and if they cannot be identified they will be buried appropriately with all the respect due a human being.”

He said identifying some of the remains may be very difficult “given the advance degree of skeletization.”

Mr. Ashburn said the operation as of Saturday morning incorporated more than 100 people. The Center Post Church was being used for people who want to come to the area to check on loved ones.

He urged, however, anyone thinking they may have a loved one at the crematory to contact the funeral home which handled the arrangements to find out which crematory was used. There are several in the area, he said.

If TriState Crematory was used, he said, they may call the 911 Center at 706-375-7810 and someone will get in touch with them. He said families may gather at the Civic Center at Rock Spring on Sunday.

Rep. Snow said he wants to review “what laws we have on the books” and consider legislation to “make sure nothing like this happens again.”

Dr. Sperry said the remains “we’re finding now have been dead for some period of time, up to a year.”

Sheriff Wilson said that when he talked to Marsh, the crematory operator said the facility had been “broken and inoperable for periods of time” and would not fire up. The sheriff said that had not been verified yet.

He said the facility is located on a 16-acre tract with the family dwelling and about five outbuildings and the crematory. There is also a lake behind the home which “we may have to examine.”

Mr. McConnell said examiners had checked wells and the water in the lake and “as of right now there is no contamination.”

Asked about the crematory located in a residential area, it was explained that Walker County implemented zoning in 1992 and the business was grandfathered in, having been in operation for about 20 years.

The current operator is the son of Ray and Clara Marsh who operated the business until about 1996 when the son took over.

The sheriff said their investigation is going back to the mid- to late-90s when the son began operating the crematory. He said he does not anticipate any other arrests, but the investigation is continuing and the district attorney said additional charges could be lodged against the operator.

The sheriff said funeral homes throughout the area are “working with us” on the investigation.

District Attorney Buzz Franklin discusses charges against Brent Marsh
- Photo2 by John Wilson