The Cobb County Medical Examiner’s Office released 57 names connected to ashes discovered inside a funeral home that caught on fire last year.
“If there’s family members out there that knows these people or has any association with them and is interested in helping give these remains a dignified burial, we’d like to hear from those people,” Cobb County Communications Director Ross Cavitt said.
The Medford-Peden Funeral Home caught on fire in April 2024. In November, Ben James, a hobby photographer from London, said he traveled to Cobb County to take pictures of what he considered a forgotten space.
Inside, he saw ashes and documents connected to past clients, took photographs and posted them online. Someone saw them and alerted Marietta Police.
Days later, investigators showed up and took dozens of sets of ashes out of the burned building.
Since then, the county has been working to connect families to the cremains.
“We have made contact with some family members,” Cavitt said.
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However, he said the Medical Examiner’s Office has been unable to locate loved ones of 57 sets of ashes.
Cavitt said that could be because the Department of Family and Children Services was in charge of some of the cremations.
“This funeral home handled indigent burials with DFACS. These are cases where family members can’t be found when somebody dies or somebody dies and there’s no resources to bury them. It goes to DFACS who works with local funeral homes to handle those cases,” Cavitt said. “We believe a large number of those may be in that category. In that case, we may not be able to find any family members, but we want to put it out anyway just as an abundance of caution and care.”
State records show the funeral home dissolved operations in 2021. The person listed as the owner of the building has not responded to our request for a comment.
Marietta Police Department said its investigation is closed. The state is still investigating.
If you believe any of these cremains may belong to your loved one, please contact the Cobb County Medical Examiner’s Office at 770-590-6596 or via email at gillian.fletcher@cobbcounty.org. You have until May 30, 2025, to claim these cremains.
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