It was news in February 2002 when a player in one of North America’s most sacred occupations was discovered to have stored, what is believed to be, 344 dead human bodies that were poised for cremation.  It was what became known to many of us as the “Tri-State Crematory Scandal.”

Led to discovery from an anonymous tip, the circumstances at the Georgia-based crematory led to a 12-year prison sentence for the crematory’s owner.  It also led to many of us who used trade crematories at the time to make sure that we inspected the crematories that we sent loved ones entrusted to our care for cremation disposition.  Prior to this time, many of us just believed that the vendors we sent our trade business to carried the same values as those of us in the consumer-based funeral and cremation business did.  While many do. . . we learned not all carried those values.

The news that came out of the Tri-State Crematory situation not only led to more inspections by both client funeral homes and regulatory agencies, but it is also credited with the increased installation of crematories in funeral homes.

Unfortunately, for the funeral home clients of Tri-State Crematory the nightmare was just starting.  You can learn more about the case from this recent printed article and video story from WSB-TV of Atlanta.

Tri-State Crematory was a 2nd Generation business whose owner, Ray Brent Marsh, had been operating since the mid-1990’s according to the article.  It is alleged in the article that Marsh had given concrete dust to the families of the non-cremated bodies instead of what should have been their cremated remains.  Marsh, according to the article, “would later be convicted of numerous charges including abusing a corpse, burial service-related fraud and theft by deception.”   He completed his sentence and was released from prison in 2016.

Again, according to the article, 334 decomposing bodies were eventually recovered. . . of which only 226 were able to be identified.

Funeral Director Daily take:  I’d almost forgot about this until I saw this article and it reminded me of such.  In 2002, our funeral home in Minnesota was using a 3rd party to cremate the deceased put in our funeral home’s care.  We had a very good relationship with our provider but, nonetheless, it caused some level of anxiety by me simply because client families now asked about what was happening with their loved one when put into our care.

We built a new funeral home in 2005 and by this time cremation was approaching 20-25% of our business.  While it is difficult to remember my exact reasoning, I’m guessing that the Tri-State Crematory incident secured the fact that in planning for our new funeral home, we would make sure to add our own crematory.

If you were not in the death care business at the time, you would have a hard time in fathoming how this incident, in the highly trusted death care industry, hit the public.   Our competitors did not have their own crematory and this incident led us to even promote “Crematory on site — Your loved one never leaves our Care”.  As a matter of fact, to this very day we are sometimes told that is the reason that a family chooses our funeral home. . . .and, it all leads back to the Tri-State Crematory incident.

There are other incidents that have happened in the ensuing years, but none have had the national impact of this situation.  It’s a great reason why we should all look at regulation and inspections as something that needs to be done in our profession.  As a matter of fact, some state legislatures are in the process of tightening their regulations at this time.

• Related — Here is another video report on the Tri-State Crematory incident
• Related — Colorado House passes bill for inspection of funeral homes, crematories.  Click here for article.  Colorado Politics

More news from the world of Death Care:

• Keady funeral director Bridget on how early death of her husband led to now vocation.  Armaghi (Great Britain)
• Staten Island mom killed by massive gravestone at Graniteville cemetery, lawsuit alleges.  Staten Island Live (NY
• Reef Ball burials:  The new trend for becoming “coral” when you die.  The Guardian (Great Britain)
• Fero Funeral Home fire.  Video story and print article.  Citrus County Chronicle (FL)

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