DNA test result that matched 1995 death was a mistake

NOBLE - Officials say a DNA test result that matched a body sent to Tri-State Crematory in 1995 was incorrect. <br> <br> Georgia&#39;s chief medical examiner, Kris Sperry, said Wednesday, ``Through further DNA testing it was determined that there was no match.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The test result was important because if DNA proved bodies were dumped at the northwest Georgia crematory before 1996, others could be implicated in the criminal case. <br> <br> Authorities are trying to identify more than 340 complete and partial human remains recovered from the crematory grounds. <br> <br> Crematory operator Ray Brent Marsh faces 381 felony charges -- 316 counts of theft by deception for accepting money for cremations he did not perform, and another 65 charges of abuse of a body. <br> <br> Marsh took over operation of the crematory in 1996 after his father, crematory founder Ray Marsh, became ill. <br> <br> Sperry said the accuracy of the DNA match reported by the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory in Maryland was suspect because the body matched does not fit the physical description of the person the test result pointed to. <br> <br> Because of the incorrect match, officials temporarily suspended the identification of discarded bodies. Testing has since resumed. <br> <br> Sperry said he believes the dumping of uncremated bodies at the facility began in 1997, but that DNA from 1995 and 1996 is being analyzed in case that theory is wrong. He expects the identification process for the criminal case to be completed by the end of September.