Crematory recovery less expensive than previously thought

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Posted 7:44PM on Sunday, April 7, 2002

NOBLE - Officials handling the investigation at the crematory where 339 corpses were discovered say they may not need the full $8.5 million set aside by the Legislature to pay for the project. The cost of the recovery work at Tri-State Crematory has dropped substantially since the first five days of the investigation, when investigators feared they had already spent $5 million. Now officials say they will save $1.3 million from two decisions alone building a permanent morgue on county property and cutting back on DNA tests performed in the case and may not spend the entire $8.5 million allotment. ``This is still a work in progress, so numbers are going to remain fluid,'' said Buzz Weiss, a spokesman for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. ``So at this point we don't know if all that money will be spent.'' Walker County officials are erecting a metal building to house bodies beginning April 15. The $160,000 structure will allow the state to return a temporary tent that was running up rent and cooling costs. Locks and alarms will make it unnecessary to staff the morgue with deputies who require overtime pay. ``It's just an effort to provide the best management of the taxpayers' money,'' said David Ashburn, the county emergency management director. The state has decided not to perform DNA tests on relatives of people sent to Tri-State before 1995. Forensic testing leads officials to believe no bodies were discarded at the crematory before 1997, medical examiner Dr. Kris Sperry said. ``If we find out that there were older remains, then we can always do DNA testing back farther,'' Ashburn said. In mid-February, when investigators feared there were many more corpses on the property, GEMA estimated recovery workers might be at the site eight months or more. But no bodies were found after the 339 discovered in the first 13 days of the recovery, and this week investigators plan to return control of the crematory property to the Marsh family members who own it. Crematory operator Ray Brent Marsh is jailed on more than 200 counts of theft by deception for accepting money for cremations he never performed. The state has scaled back the number of troopers providing security at the site, and barely a dozen workers are on the crematory property each day. ``Fortunately we've seen something of a scaling back of activity,'' Weiss said. ``When we first went into this, we didn't know how many bodies might be out there.'' Walker County had spent $500,000 on the recovery effort through late March, and a portion of that money will be reimbursed by the state, Ashburn said. Bebe Heiskell, the lone county commissioner, has said she will try to get the state and federal governments to cover county expenses. Budget cuts will help the county cope, and raising taxes is a last resort, she said.