"Noble" podcast revisits Tri-State Crematory scandal
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Shaun Raviv's look at the scandal sits at No. 1 on Apple Podcasts. Credit: Shaun Raviv, Georgia Bureau of Investigation
An Atlanta journalist's hit podcast series explores the unsettling story of a Georgia crematory that hoodwinked hundreds of families and improperly disposed of bodies in its care.
Why it matters: "Noble," a new podcast series by journalist Shaun Raviv, revisits a small town's shocking story that rippled across the country and its still unanswered questions.
- Right now, the show is No. 1 on Apple Podcasts.
Catch up quick: In 2002, investigators from the Environmental Protection Agency discovered dead bodies on the grounds of the Tri-State Crematory in Noble, a town in the northwest corner pocket of Georgia.
- For years, Ray Brent Marsh, the business owner, would take in bodies from funeral homes and dump or bury them on and around the property instead of cremating them.
- Law enforcement's search of the grounds ultimately uncovered 339 bodies, some of which had decomposed into skeletons.
What they're saying: Raviv, whose long-form journalism has appeared in The Atlantic, Wired, and The Washington Post, told Axios he was attracted to the case's deeper stories and twists and the larger discussion of death and how we process the loss of a loved one.
- "And then also, I just wanted to know why," Raviv said about what became one of the largest law enforcement investigations in Georgia's history.
- "This doesn't seem possible. How can a person do this for so long? How can people who live around him not know about it or do anything about it?"
No spoilers: Marsh pleaded guilty to nearly 800 counts, including theft, abuse of a corpse, burial service fraud and more. Marsh issued a court-mandated public apology in 2016.
- Families of the deceased, some of whom were given concrete dust presented as cremains, filed a class action lawsuit against the crematory and funeral homes.
Zoom in: The series includes interviews with McCracken Poston — Marsh's flamboyant defense attorney and a familiar face to fans of "Dateline" — as well as federal forensic technicians deployed after large disasters and who worked on the Noble property.
State of play: The Georgia Bureau of Investigation maintains a database of unidentified remains discovered on the site.
Bottom line: The deeply reported series is not the latest true crime podcast du jour. It explores the complex and intimate process of dying for both the deceased and loved ones, as well as the complicated legal and ethical questions raised by the case.