Funeral home owner jailed after 18 bodies found in various stages of decomposition, authorities say

DOUGLAS, Ga. (AP) — A South Georgia funeral home owner has been arrested and charged with neglect of human corpses after authorities said they found 18 bodies in various stages of decomposition while serving an eviction notice at the business .

Chris Lee Johnson, 39, of Douglas, has been charged with 17 counts of abuse of a corpse, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced in a statement Monday.

The state’s top law enforcement agency began an investigation this weekend after Coffee County sheriff’s deputies requested assistance in conducting an eviction process.

Arrest warrants state that Johnson ignored the proper storage of bodies in multiple instances, resulting in “the gross disfigurement” of the deceased people at Johnson Funeral & Cremation Services in Douglas.

The GBI has been working with family members to learn more about the deceased people involved, describing it as a complex investigation. The investigation continues and additional charges are expected, the agency said in a statement.

On Monday, a judge decided during a trial that Johnson would be held in jail and not released before trial because of the seriousness of the charges and the expectation that more charges will be filed, court records show.

No attorneys for Johnson are listed in online court records. Johnson indicated in court filings that he did not want a public defender to represent him as he planned to hire his own attorney.

Johnson ran for Coffee County coroner earlier this year but was defeated in a primary in May. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports this.

Douglas is a city of nearly 12,000 residents about 200 miles southeast of Atlanta.