The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says the agency has now identified all of the remains connected to the case involving a funeral home and allegations of abuse.
The agency said January 24 that all of the remains have been identified but that the investigation remains open and ongoing.
In October 2024, the GBI arrested Chris Johnson, age 39, of Douglas, GA on seventeen counts of Abuse of Dead Body. The arrest followed an investigation that began on Saturday, October 26, 2024, when the GBI was requested by the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies serving an eviction notice at Johnson Funeral Home discovered 18 bodies in various stages of decomposition.
For weeks, the GBI worked to communicate with family members of decedents in hopes of filling in the gaps of the investigation, imploring members of the public to come forward with information.
In November, the agency announced that it had identified 12 of the 18 remains found at Johnson Funeral Home. At that time, the GBI and the Coffee County Coroner’s Office had notified the families of the identified remains, as well as provided them with the necessary information for them to finalize arrangements for their loved ones. Citing privacy, the GBI did not release their identities.
Simultaneously, the GBI Crime Lab evaluated the cremains that were turned over to determine if they were human remains in hopes of identifying the six remaining individuals. The Criminal Investigations Division of the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance also began assisting the GBI to investigate irregularities in insurance proceeds.
On December 8, James A. Sirmans, age 52, of Fitzgerald, GA, was arrested and charged with two counts of Insurance Fraud and one count of Conspiracy to Commit Insurance Fraud. The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance John F. King secured these arrest warrants. These charges stem from a 2023 investigation into an attempt by Sirmans to fraudulently obtain additional life insurance proceeds by altering the cause of death on a death certificate in 2022.
The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance John F. King has also charged Chris Johnson with Theft by Deception, Forgery, Submitting Fraudulent Vital Records, Conspiracy to Commit Insurance Fraud, and two counts of Insurance Fraud. The GBI also charged Johnson with Theft by Taking and six counts of Violation of Vital Records Registration in relation to the ongoing investigation into the remains found in his funeral home and his related business practices.
With the assistance of the Ben Hill County Sheriff’s Office, Sirmans was taken into custody without incident and booked into the Coffee County Jail. He has since been released on bond.
Johnson is still in custody in the Coffee County Jail.
The agency said at the time that they were down to two remains unidentified in the investigation.
The January 24th announcement followed not long after.
When the investigation is complete, the GBI will turn the case file over to the Waycross Judicial Circuit.
