Infamous crematory torn down, with land to remain undeveloped

<p>The notorious northwest Georgia crematory where 334 rotting corpses were discovered three years ago has been torn down.</p><p>The Tri-State Crematory has been knocked down as part of a settlement with relatives of people sent there, attorneys said Monday.</p><p>The property will return to a natural state, although the public won't be allowed there, said Chattanooga, Tenn., attorney Stuart James, who represents the Marsh family.</p><p>Ray Brent Marsh pleaded guilty last November to dumping the corpses and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He admitted to hiding bodies intended for cremation and passing off cement dust as their ashes.</p><p>Marsh stopped performing cremations at the Tri-State Crematory in the late 1990s, when he took over the family business. Investigators acting on a tip in February 2002 discovered a ghastly scene of bodies dumped in woods, sheds and sometimes stacked on top of each other.</p><p>Marsh pleaded guilty to 787 counts of theft, abuse of a corpse, burial service fraud and making false statements.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cd9af4)</p>