MARIETTA, Ga. — Several state and local agencies are examining a burned funeral home in Georgia after an English photographer uncovered disturbing evidence within the remains of the establishment, including urns, bags of human ashes, and human remains.
The Norman Medford Peden Funeral Home and Crematory, located approximately 20 miles north of Atlanta in Marietta, was engulfed in fire earlier this year. Prior to the unintended blaze, the property was scheduled for a foreclosure auction. The cause of the fire remains unknown, and plans for the building’s demolition are currently underway.
A total of six agencies are collaborating to investigate the circumstances surrounding the funeral home, which involves local law enforcement, Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office, the Cobb County Medical Examiner’s Office, and the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office. Authorities aim to connect with families who entrusted the funeral home with their loved ones’ burial or cremation services.
“We are inquiring about the whereabouts of the funds,” commented Noula Zaharia from the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office Cemeteries Division, referring to the significant amounts of money many families had prepaid for funeral services.
On Wednesday, Ben James, the photographer who had traveled from England to document the abandoned establishment, recounted his discoveries within the site. “I came across bank statements linked to burials, detailing payments made by families. Though I’ve seen a couple of ashes before at other funeral homes, the quantity I encountered here was astonishing—it was very worrisome,” James stated.
James reported unearthed evidence including over 30 urns and numerous bags of human ashes, with some clearly labeled and others unidentified. Additionally, he found personal family photographs, death certificates, credit card information, alongside hazardous materials.
He also shared a particularly unsettling find: “There was a human fetus left in a jar in the embalming room. What could be the context of such a discovery? How could something like that be overlooked? It’s profoundly heartbreaking.”
In a related incident last month, a similar case emerged in another Georgian city, where a funeral home owner in Douglas, located about 200 miles southeast of Atlanta, faced arrest for neglecting human remains. Authorities discovered 18 bodies in varying states of decomposition while executing an eviction notice at the funeral home.