Chris Johnson, the director of Johnson’s Funeral Home & Cremation Services in Coffee County, Georgia, has been arrested and charged with 17 counts of “abuse of a dead body” after authorities discovered 18 decomposing bodies inside the funeral home.
The discovery was made on Saturday, October 26, when the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office arrived to assist with an eviction notice.
In addition to the human bodies, authorities also found the decomposing remains of two pets, a dog and a cat.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) has stated that their investigation is ongoing, and they are working to centralize information from the community. Johnson was taken into custody on Sunday, October 27.
Jeff and Tiffany Evans, expressed their concern about the identity of the bodies.
“The first reaction was, ‘I hope it wasn’t our daughter.’ But then you realize, if it’s not our daughter, it’s someone else’s,” they told WALB.
Another Coffee County resident, Sherri Thomas, shared her experience with Johnson, stating that she had paid for a death certificate but had not received it despite numerous phone calls.
“We still have not yet received a death certificate that I paid for, in full, to Chris Johnson… I have called probably over 50-60 times, and he has not once returned my phone call. And I just wonder, with all these bodies, is that even my mama’s body in this urn?”.
The Coffee County Coroner, Brandon Musgrove, has prioritized identifying the bodies and notifying the families. “My priority is to get the bodies properly identified and make the notifications to the family. Please bear with us. We’re working as diligently as we can,” Musgrove stated.
The authorities are urging anyone with information to contact the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office or the GBI Regional Investigative Office.
