News Tip: Violation of Trust, Not Theft, At Issue In Crematory Case

Public outrage at the discovery earlier this week of nearly 200 bodies on the grounds of a Georgia crematory stems not just from the financial issues, but from a perceived betrayal of deeply held trust in funeral directors and those who handle the business of "laying to rest" our loved ones, a Duke University professor says.

Ray Brent Marsh, operator of Tri-State Crematory, has been charged with multiple counts of theft by deception for taking payment for cremations he didn't perform. Officials Wednesday continued to search the grounds of the business and Marsh's home for additional remains. But finances are not the reason for people's reaction of horror, according to Karla Holloway, dean of humanities and social sciences and an English professor at Duke.

Holloway says there is an intimacy in the relationship between morticians and their customers that is unlike that of other businesses. Because of "the passion involved in these moments" dealing with death, she says, people recoil from the idea that the operator of a crematory would violate family trust and the code of bringing honor and dignity to the final ritual of death.

Holloway is the author of Passed On: African American Mourning Stories (Duke University Press, 2002), a study of the business of funeral directors and the rituals, economics and politics of African-American mourning and burial practices.

To arrange an interview with Holloway, contact her office at (919) 668-7698.