Batesville Announces First Integration with Georgia Electronic Death Registration  System to Streamline Death Record Reporting 

BATESVILLE, Ind., July 28, 2025 – Batesville, a trusted leader in the North American deathcare industry, has announced the first inter-operational integration between its Halcyon deathcare management software solution and the state of Georgia’s Electronic Death Registration System (EDRS). The integration eliminates the need for duplicate manual entry data, improving the speed to process. This helps funeral homes maintain more accurate death records and supports continued electronic death submissions in other states. 

“At Batesville, we believe technology is a powerful tool to deliver value to our funeral home customers and help families navigate the end-of-life journey,” said Sara Gard, General Manager, Halcyon by Batesville. “This breakthrough integration with Georgia improves business efficiencies and processes as Georgia funeral home directors can now enter a decedent’s death certificate and information once, and it will seamlessly integrate from Halcyon directly to Georgia Vital Events Registration System (GAVERS). This saves the funeral home customer an average of 15-30 minutes per case.” 

“The new integration saves my team significant time, increases death record accuracy, simplifies the process, and builds trust during a time of uncertainty,” Everett J. Huffman, Funeral Director & General Manager, Whitfield Funeral Homes & Crematory. “Families now have the peace of mind their loved one’s death records are being submitted without error, and we can focus on supporting them through the funeral process instead of spending time on paperwork.” 

Batesville is a proud participant in a subgroup of the Center for Disease Control’s National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) Modernization Community of Practice. The purpose of this subgroup is to research and review how to modernize electronic death record submission, including improvements to funeral home death record data collection and management. Together, the team developed, tested, and implemented a system where funeral home management systems  could exchange data electronically with a state’s death registry systems to improve the timeliness and quality of death data, create efficiencies for the funeral directors, and accelerate vital records technology adoption. This integration embraces new technology and approaches to death care management. Over the next few weeks Batesville will continue our phased roll out to all Halcyon users in Georgia. 

Batesville has deep customer relationships and a diverse portfolio of solutions across Burial, Cremation, and Technology to meet the evolving needs of deathcare professionals and the families they serve. Our goal is to equip funeral professionals with the tools and resources to support their business and help position them for long-term success. 

For more information, or if you are interested in implementing this in your business, please contact the Halcyon solutions team at 770.877.1158 or visit www.halcyondcms.com. 

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ABOUT BATESVILLE SERVICES, LLC 

Batesville (www.Batesville.com) is a recognized leader in the deathcare industry in North  America, offering a comprehensive portfolio of burial and cremation products, innovative technology solutions, and an unparalleled array of personalization and memorialization offerings.  For more than a century, Batesville has supported deathcare professionals in helping families honor the lives of those they love^® and has recently been named one of Newsweek’s Most  Trustworthy Companies in America for the second consecutive year. A history of manufacturing excellence, product innovation, superior customer service, and reliable delivery  helped Batesville become – and remain – a market leader.  

Georgia Is Now the 13th State to Legalize Natural Organic Reduction

Effective July 1, 2025, residents of the Peach State will have access to another option for disposition: natural organic reduction. Georgia governor Brian Kemp signed into law Senate Bill 241 on May 9 after both sides of the aisle showed overwhelming support for what the bill calls “organic human reduction.”

Georgia is the 13th state to legalize natural organic reduction, and the first since Maine’s NOR law was finalized in June 2024.

Toward a greener South

When it comes to expanding disposition options beyond flame cremation and traditional burial, Georgia has been one of the most progressive of the nine Southeastern states. Alkaline hydrolysis has been legal in Georgia since 2012; at the time, Florida was the only state in the region to offer AH, legalizing it in 2010. North Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee followed suit in 2013, 2017, and 2018, respectively.

Georgia also boasts several green burial options. According to the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Georgia, there are “at least two exclusively natural burial grounds” in the state in addition to multiple hybrid cemeteries where green or natural burial sections exist alongside those reserved for traditional burials. One of those two operations has received certification from the Green Burial Council — one of just a handful in the entire Southeast to be GBC certified. 

Breaking new ground

When it comes to NOR, however, Georgia stands alone as the only Southeastern state to offer this relatively new, but rapidly growing disposition method. While NOR is (perhaps expectedly) legal all along the West Coast and in the majority of the Northeastern states, none of the other 12 states offering NOR are easily accessible to Southerners, at least from a geographic standpoint, as the above graphic from our friends at Return Home illustrates. Also evident from this graphic is that none of the other eight states in the region have even introduced NOR legislation.

This doesn’t mean, however, that Southerners who would like to be transformed into soil have to wait for Georgia’s deathcare community to set up NOR operations. Auburn, Washington’s Return Home and other established NOR providers, including Washington-based Recompose, often open their doors to out-of-state families who pay to transport their loved ones to their West Coast facilities. 

The founders of both Return Home and Recompose voiced support for Georgia’s new law, offering statements to Atlanta News First.

“Recompose is thrilled by the passage of the human composting bill in Georgia. […] We are proud to see the movement continue to grow so beautifully,” said Recompose founder/CEO Katrina Spade.

Return Home founder/CEO Micah Truman also “applauded the state’s legislative effort, saying the movement is about connection,” Atlanta News First reported. “I think we’re like salmon,” Truman said. “We want to go home.”

Felony Charges Piling Up Against Former Georgia Funeral Director Johnson As More Details Emerge

A grand jury has handed down a total of 66 felony indictments against former funeral director Chris Johnson, who was arrested in October after authorities serving an eviction notice discovered 18 decomposing bodies in Johnson’s Douglas, Georgia funeral home. The 66 counts include new charges involving a 2022 case of forgery for the purpose of insurance fraud.

The grand jury indictments were on hold while the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) completed the tedious task of identifying the remains and notifying the loved ones of those 18 individuals, which they accomplished earlier this month. At the same time, authorities were conducting investigations into the operations of Johnson Funeral & Cremation Services, including preneed business. 

These probes uncovered the alleged incident of forgery and resulted in the arrest of a second man, James Sirmans, in December. Authorities say that Johnson changed the cause of death on the death certificate from “natural causes” to “accidental” of Sirmans’ cousin so Sirmans could collect on a $9,000 insurance policy. For his involvement, Johnson faces charges of insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, forgery in the first degree, and violation of vital records registration. 

The other 62 indictments against Johnson are directly related to 17 of the 18 people who were entrusted to his care in 2024. Although 18 bodies were discovered in various stages of decomposition as authorities attempted to serve Johnson with an eviction notice on October 26, 2024, only 17 met the requirements for charges of corpse abuse.

In addition to the 17 charges of dead body abuse, Johnson was indicted on 17 charges of abandonment of a dead body, and 18 counts of theft by deception. Additional indictments related to the 2024 cases involved violation of vital records registration and insurance fraud.

In many of these cases, Johnson provided families with what he represented as the cremated remains of their loved ones. In others, families found that the casket that was lowered into the ground during their loved one’s interment was empty. Several were also left in financial limbo when Johnson failed to deliver the death certificates required to complete insurance paperwork. 

These families and community members are still perplexed as to how Chris Johnson was allowed to continue offering deathcare services when records show his establishment, embalming, and funeral director licenses had all lapsed by the time he passed an inspection by the Secretary of State in July. Many of the bodies that were discovered in October were most likely in the funeral home during this inspection.

Johnson has remained in custody since his initial arrest, and was even transferred to a new location out of concern for his safety. Earlier this month, Johnson’s bond was denied after multiple family members shared testimony about their loved ones’ lives and the agony of reliving their deaths. One of the deceased was a mother who was mauled to death in May 2024 while protecting her children from a pack of attacking dogs.

Other consequences of Johnson’s actions loom. The eviction notice authorities were serving at Johnson Funeral & Cremation Services on that fateful October day was a result of Johnson’s failure to pay $8,200 in back rent on one of his two commercial locations. In early December, Johnson was in court to settle these charges plus a $3,350 civil claim filed by a media company for nonpayment of advertising. Several of the 18 impacted families are also pursuing civil lawsuits.

Another Funeral Home Scandal in Georgia? Maybe … But Maybe Not

Less than a month after 18 bodies were found in various states of decomposition in a Douglas, Georgia funeral home, another discovery of human remains within the state is drawing comparisons … but should it? The situations may share some similarities, but the details of the new discovery should spotlight some much different deathcare issues.

Leaving little to the imagination

Last week, UK photographer Ben James posted images he’d taken at an abandoned funeral home to his Instagram account (@places_forgotten) and to a Reddit photography forum. The Reddit post, entitled “Abandoned funeral home I went to yesterday. Caskets, chemicals and human cremains all left” garnered 16,000 votes, 2,200 comments … and a report to local authorities.

The 19 images James posted included shots of the embalming room, several from an office or storage areas, and some of a casket selection area that was covered with debris from a heavily damaged ceiling and openings in the roof. Although the images — which have been removed by Reddit moderators but can still be found on Instagram — did not name the funeral home or even the city or state where the photos were taken, names of many deceased were easily visible on labeled bags and boxes of cremains and on dozens of files, including one that clearly reads “Cobb Co. M.E. to sign death certificates.”

One Redditor used this information to identify the facility as Norman Medford Peden Funeral Home and Crematory in Marietta, Georgia, just north of Atlanta, and reported the images and the conditions they illuminated to the Marietta Police Department. Within days, five more agencies were involved in an investigation, including local fire and EMS, the offices of the medical examiner, district attorney, and secretary of state, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation — which already had its hands full with the Douglas funeral home case.

A dubious history

The media has found multiple points of interest in which to frame this story. While the “discovery of human remains” has led the headlines, some have also raised suspicions about a pending foreclosure, missing owners, allegedly misappropriated funds, and an April 2024 fire that led to the funeral home’s closure.

On Tuesday, April 23, firefighters responded to a fire at Medford Peden Funeral Home. They were able to contain the fire within 22 minutes, and reported that no employees — and “no remains” — were inside. Two days later, reports surfaced that according to a notice posted on April 19, the property was in foreclosure and was scheduled to be auctioned off on May 7. One outlet shared that workers were shuttering the windows and the owners, who were “not ready” to speak to reporters, were speaking to insurance adjusters; it also reported that the fire marshal had not yet “confirmed where or how the fire started.”

In September, one family accused the funeral home’s owners of theft, saying the owners “disappeared” after the fire with $1,000 that the family had prepaid in 2022 for cremation services. In the same report, Atlanta’s WSB-TV stated that “[d]ocuments obtained through the Georgia Secretary of State’s website reveal notices that were sent to the owner in 2021, for failure to file an annual registration. The same documents reveal the business was dissolved the same year because the registration wasn’t filed.”

According to obituaries on the funeral home’s website, the last case they handled was a death that occurred on March 28, 2024 with a graveside service that was held on April 15. The website doesn’t identify the owners of the funeral home or any of its staff, but does have a notice that it is temporarily closed due to the April fire and they are “currently unable to provide new services.”

New and different questions

Fast-forward to last week’s Reddit reveal, which once again shone a spotlight on the seemingly-forgotten funeral home facility — and begs new questions from deathcare that may not be occurring to the general public.

First of all, is it fair for the media to liken the bags and boxes of cremains to the 18 decomposing bodies found in the Douglas, Georgia funeral home in late October? The owner of that facility has been in jail since that discovery and is facing 17 felony charges of abuse of a corpse, even as the GBI works to identify the remains. As the Connecting Directors audience well knows, unclaimed cremated remains are a common and growing problem plaguing funeral homes and crematories. Reports of these funeral homes or community organizations facilitating dignified disposition of these remains — often at their own expense — appear in the media on nearly a weekly basis.

Secondly, who should be responsible for ensuring that remains and sensitive records are removed from funeral homes when they are abandoned or closed for any reason? Certainly, in cases of foreclosure, which are publicly advertised, or when a business is shut down for lapsed licenses, for example, shouldn’t some agency step in to remove and arrange at least temporary secured storage for these items? Of course, buildings are abandoned all the time for various reasons, and furniture, supplies, and equipment are left behind. However, don’t human remains deserve to be treated more respectfully than a desk or filing cabinet?

Lastly — and this isn’t just a question that applies only to deathcare — how can it be legal, or even ethical, for people like Ben James to enter an abandoned building without permission, roam around in a space that is potentially structurally unsafe, expose themselves to various chemicals, have the opportunity to remove items, and then share their findings with a worldwide audience, perhaps enticing others to do the same? There is a large community of “urban explorers” like James who don’t think twice about doing this, and, also like Englishman Ben James, will travel long distances just to accomplish this goal.

As this is a developing story, hopefully more information about the investigation, the whereabouts of the owners, and any pending charges will be shared soon. However, will anyone answer the questions just posed? And will this situation have any impact on the way similar situations are handled in the future?

Georgia Funeral Home Eviction Uncovers 18 Decomposing Bodies; Owner Charged With Felonies

A Georgia funeral home owner has been arrested on 17 counts of abuse of a dead body after authorities serving an eviction notice found 18 bodies in various states of decomposition. Two deceased pets were also discovered.

On Saturday, October 26, members of the Coffee County, Georgia Sheriff’s Offices intended to serve an eviction notice at Johnson Funeral and Cremation Services in Douglas, Georgia, which is a little over three hours south of Atlanta. Agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) were on hand to assist in the process, and immediately opened an investigation after making the gruesome discovery.

Based on their findings, the GBI arrested the funeral home’s owner, Chris Johnson, 39, and charged him with 17 counts of abuse of a dead body. The arrest was made on Sunday, October 27 at Johnson’s home.

“It’s obviously a terrible case,” Gabe Sterling, chief operating officer of the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, told Atlanta News First. Sterling’s office provides administrative support for the Georgia State Board of Funeral Service.

 “His license lapsed for a period of time this year and then he reinstated his funeral director’s license and his embalmer’s license. The facility license was still not renewed.”

According to Atlanta News First, Johnson ran unsuccessfully to become the Coffee County coroner this year, and his business was not a member of the Georgia Funeral Directors Association. DouglasNews.com adds that Johnson had “been the subject of an investigation for quite some time.” 

That outlet said Johnson was “in the process of moving” his funeral home to a new location that he was preparing, but was still operating in the facility where the bodies were found, and that “rumblings of various issues” at the funeral home had been circulating “for a long time.”

Families recently served by Johnson shared with local news outlets their frustrations with the funeral director as news of the discovery broke. One family member said they had called “over 50 or 60 times” about the status of certified death certificates, for which they had already paid, and Johnson did not answer or return calls.  Another family member said they knocked on the door of the funeral home over and over — knowing that Johnson was inside, as his car was parked outside — for nearly a year before Johnson finally provided the certificates.

The GBI has provided several methods for families to reach out if they believe their family members may be among the deceased discovered at Johnson Funeral and Cremation Services.

The most recent obituary posted to the funeral home’s website indicates the service and burial took place on October 10, 2024. The website displays only 10 obituaries, with the earliest services being held on May 30 of this year. 

One news outlet explained that one of the 18 bodies discovered on Saturday had not been in the funeral home long enough for charges to be filed, thus Johnson has only been charged with 17 felony counts. His bond has been denied and he is being held in Coffee County jail.