Shaun Raviv grew up in New Jersey and eventually studied English at Duke University, a world away from the rural community of Noble, Georgia, where 23 years ago, the discovery of more than 300 bodies scattered and decomposing on a family’s crematorium property made national headlines.
While living in the Big Apple in 2002, Raviv said he first encountered the Tri-State Crematory scandal when the breach of trust by Brent Marsh and his family made national and internation news. The subject piqued his curiosity, and he pondered why and how such a thing had occurred.
Years later, after he’d embarked on projects such as “The Killers of Swaziland” — about a serial killer in that southern African state — and written pieces for The Washington Post, Wired, Smithsonian magazine and more, Raviv sunk his teeth into a new journalistic endeavor.
Raviv decided to do a deep dive on the crematory scandal and interviewed its key players, including victims’ family members, investigators and lawyers. He said he learned much about human nature and came close to discovering the “why” behind the crime.
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