Crime & Safety
Abandoned Cremains ID'd After Being Found At Metro ATL Funeral Home
Metro Atlanta officials have released the names of the cremains, which were found at a vacant funeral home with the help of a Reddit user.
MARIETTA, GA — The 57 cremains that were found three months ago at an abandoned Marietta funeral home and images were posted on Reddit have been identified by the Cobb County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Cobb County officials on Wednesday released the names of the cremains, which are a person's cremated remains, in hopes they will be claimed by their loved ones. Families have until May 30 to claim the cremains. (See the full list below.)
“We hope to provide answers to any family with lingering questions about a loved one’s passing,” Cobb County Medical Examiner Dr. Christopher Gulledge said in a news release. “Our office has worked tirelessly to identify these cremains using various methods, and we are committed to reuniting them with their families.”
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The cremains were found on Nov. 21, 2024, at the former Norman Medford Peden Funeral Home and Crematory, county officials said.
They were located in boxes alongside several chemicals after an out-of-state Reddit user saw photos of the Canton Road Northeast building on the social website and notified authorities.
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Death certificates and other identifying documents were attached to the boxes, police previously said.
The photos were part of a post with the title, "Abandoned funeral home I went to yesterday. Caskets, chemicals and human remains all left."
RELATED: Boxed Cremated Remains Found At Vacant Metro Atlanta Funeral Home
Photos showed the cremains and documents with Cobb County labeled on them, Marietta Police said in an incident report. This helped the user identify the funeral home, police said.
Officers found clothing, a mattress, a backpack, food and other personal items that suggested someone had been living inside the building when they checked on the funeral home, police previously said.
Norman Medford Peden was slated for a foreclosure auction after going out of business, county officials said. A fire had partially damaged the building.
The funeral home was in a contract with the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services to provide indigent burial services, county officials said.
To claim the cremains, families may call the Cobb County Medical Examiner’s Office at (770) 590-6596 or email investigator Gillian Fletcher.
County officials identified the cremains as:
- Ronald G. Blackwell
- Georgia Catherine Bloomberg
- John Burke
- Ruth Clark
- Nathan Cleaton
- Tommy Crews
- Linwood Curley
- Baby Currington
- Vincent Ralph Desantis
- Mark Disbro
- Ronald Downie
- Infant Dillan Ray Edwards
- Ronald Anthony Erdody
- Faith Fitzpatrick
- Stanley Fowler
- Wanda June Fraiser
- Judy Funderbunk
- Virginia M. Gloger
- Mildred H. Grosse
- Janice Neil Hay
- Baby Kendall E. Hines
- Joan Hines
- Robert Loyd Huebner
- Marie Karlita Jefferson
- Angeline Jordan
- William Henry Kennedy
- James Edward Landford
- Janice Lisica
- Willie Norris Long
- Albert Dean Low
- Evelyn Lyon
- Lisa Ann Magana
- Terrie Martin
- John H. Mathews
- Janeka Mealing
- James Denver Moon
- Betty Motycha
- Angel Muhammed
- Glenn V. Pace
- Michael Piper
- Jeffrey Allen Reibly
- Richard Robinson
- Jessica Rogers
- James H. Rogers
- William Ruark
- Mary Silvas
- Monique Skinner
- Elinor Ruth Spalten
- Dorian C. Standford
- William Starkey
- Irene Marron Stearns
- Juanita B. Stout
- Marjahnna Syph
- Sheila Tollison
- Kenneth Wilford
- Herbert Clay Wood
- Palma Woodbridge
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