Search of crematory grounds nears end

NOBLE, Georgia (CNN) -- The search for discarded bodies on the grounds of the Tri-State Crematory could be completed Wednesday, officials in northwest Georgia said.

Search teams then will have to wait until a lake on the property is drained so they can search its 3-acre bed.

Crematory operator Ray Brent Marsh remained in jail Tuesday after being denied bail the day before. He was charged with 118 counts of theft by deception. Authorities said he took money for cremations he did not perform; other charges may be added.

Draining of the 9 million gallon lake began Monday. Walker County Emergency Services Director David Ashburn said water levels had dropped about four feet by Tuesday afternoon.

Investigators will not be able to start searching the lake bed until it dries.

Ashburn said that once the lake is excavated, investigators will be "pretty confident that we've pretty well turned up every bit of soil out there and have all of the recoveries of remains that are possible."

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Authorities decided to drain the lake after search teams using infrared cameras and underwater radar found a submerged human head and torso. Ashburn said those body parts have not yet been recovered.

The number of bodies recovered stands at 339 and of those; 100 have been identified.

Chief Medical Examiner Kris Sperry said the count of bodies recovered has not increased because some sets of remains that were found together have not yet been sorted out.

When Marsh was arrested, he said the family's incinerator had not worked for some time.

Government sources said Tuesday, however, that although the manufacturer found some wiring trouble in the unit, "it was not a big problem."

The Georgia Emergency Management Agency estimated the final cost of the recovery and investigation, which could last months, at $9.4 million.

A GEMA statement said it was working with federal emergency management officials and Georgia's congressional delegation to press for federal aid.

Thirty funeral homes in Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee had sent bodies to the crematory over two decades. Legal experts said the facility escaped regulation because it did not do business directly with the public, working instead through funeral homes.

-- CNN Correspondent Art Harris and Producer Jim Polk contributed to this report.