By Alabama Public Radio
Rome, GA – Authorities are hoping to close the final chapter in the criminal investigation of the Tri-State Crematory by returning ashes to family members who assisted investigators by submitting them for analysis. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says the remains will be available in August at the Walker County Civic Center in Northwest Georgia. Ashes that are not retrieved by September will be released to the Walker County coroner for interment. Law enforcement authorities discovered more than 330 rotting corpses at the crematory in 2002. Tri-State once served funeral homes from Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia. The operator, Ray Brent Marsh, pleaded guilty in November to dumping the corpses and passing off cement dust as their ashes. Marsh was sentenced to 12 years in prison.