Associated Press Georgia Bureau of Investigation workers collect remains around the property of the Tri State Crematory yesterday in Noble, Ga. Officials now believe the remains of as many as 300 people were dumped on the property rather than be cremated as contracted for by funeral homes.

NOBLE, Ga. - Investigators yesterday worked to recover discarded corpses in six newly discovered vaults on the grounds of a north Georgia crematory and said the body count may rise by at least another 100.

Morning rain that threatened search efforts at the Tri-State Crematory let up, allowing workers to check the vaults, which were located in a shed. Dr. Kris Sperry, the state's chief medical examiner, said as many as 20 corpses could be hidden in each one.

That could bring the total body count to more than 300. Officials had counted 191 by early yesterday, with 29 of them positively identified.

Meanwhile, families were turning over their loved ones' medical records and supposed ashes to help officials identify their relatives after dozens of corpses were found discarded in woods near a crematorium.

Of 130 sets of remains turned over so far, one was filled with dirt, fifteen were at least partially filled with concrete dust and others contained potting soil, Sperry said.

He said one container of remains was returned by a family whose deceased relative has been identified as one of the corpses found in the search.

"That family got back the remains of someone else," he said.

Untold numbers of partial skeletons also have been found, officials said, but only complete corpses are being included in the count for now. Sperry said 29 bodies had been positively identified.

Six bodies were found Tuesday at a second location about 150 yards behind the home of Tri-State Crematory operator Ray Brent Marsh, said Buddy Nix, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Marsh, 28, is being held without bond on 16 counts of theft by deception for allegedly taking payment for cremations he didn't intend to perform. A bond hearing has been postponed until Marsh has an attorney.

It's not clear who besides Marsh may be responsible for dumping bodies in the woods and stacking them in sheds and vaults on the property.

Marsh took over the business from his mother, Clara Marsh, and his ailing father, Ray Marsh, in 1996, but authorities say some of the corpses appeared to have been on the property for 15 years or more. The elder Marshes have not been charged.

Marsh has told investigators that he didn't cremate the bodies because the incinerator was not working, but Nix called Marsh "irresponsibility personified." Gas records have been subpoenaed in an attempt to determine when the crematory was last used, Nix said.

"Until something's done to the guy that did all this and something's done to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else, there will never be any peace for me," said Tom Shaw, who drove from St. Joseph, Mo., to this rural town 20 miles south of Chattanooga, Tenn., after his mother's body was found.

Shaw, a long-haul trucker who has only intermittent contact with his family, said he didn't even know his mother, Norma Hutton, had died on Dec. 31 before he heard television reports that her body had been found stacked in a shed at the crematory.

"(Marsh) deserves to be put to death and then thrown out in a barn," Shaw said.

About 120 people attended an hour-long memorial service Tuesday night at Oakwood Baptist Church in Chickamauga. Pastor Darrell Henry read the biblical story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead and encouraged the families to remain hopeful.

Two lawsuits alleging fraud have been filed against the Tri-State Crematory and at least one of the funeral homes that sent bodies there. An attorney in one of the cases said he was seeking class-action status for the lawsuit, which accuses the funeral home and crematory of negligent or intentional mishandling of corpses.

Authorities have said about 30 funeral homes in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama sent bodies to Tri-State for cremation.

Walker County coroner Dewayne Wilson said he could not explain how bodies were dumped in the woods for years behind the crematory in a residential neighborhood without being detected.

Johnny Johnson, who lives next door to Marsh, said Tuesday he never saw, heard or noticed anything suspicious, even though bodies were found just 100 yards from his property.

"It wasn't going on while we were here, so it must have been happening while we were at work," Johnson said.

"That's what's got me so messed up about this," he said. "I just don't know what motivated him to do this."