Worker at crematory says rules followed

A worker at the unlicensed Seabrook, N.H., crematorium where authorities discovered a decomposing corpse in a broken refrigerator, unlabeled remains, and two bodies in the same incinerator told a local newspaper Friday that his company followed state regulations.

James I. Fuller of Seabrook acknowledged that the Bayview Crematory had stored a woman's corpse in a broken cooler, but said he didn't realize the cooler was broken until Wednesday morning, just before the facility was searched by investigators, according to the Portsmouth Herald.

''We ran this place 100 percent to the letter of the law," Fuller told the Herald. Fuller did not return telephone messages left by the Globe over the last two days.

''The refrigeration was out overnight," Fuller said. ''I was dealing with it."

Fuller said that the woman, who was in her 50s and from Massachusetts, had been dead for five days. Investigators have alleged that she had been dead between seven and 10 days. Fuller also said he was forced to wait until necessary documents arrived from state officials before he could cremate the body.

Fuller's version of events differed from allegations made last week by Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams, who said the crematorium's owners could face jail time for violating state rules on handling human remains.

Fuller is unlikely to face prosecution, Reams said. There is nothing in state law that prohibits burning multiple bodies in the same incinerator, the prosecutor said, although he called the practice morally and ethically ''appalling."

Fuller, who described himself as primarily a driver who transported corpses, said Bayview did not normally mix cremated remains.

He said, however, that the two bodies found in a single oven were cremated together.

''There were two bodies in [the oven]," Fuller said. ''One was adult, the other one was a premature 26-week fetus."

He said they were cremated together because of the size of the fetus, but denied Reams's assertion that the ashes of the two bodies had mingled.

He also disputed a contention by Reams that the company kept shoddy records and that hundreds of New England families should be concerned about whether they received the right remains.

Fuller -- a member of the Winnacunnet Cooperative School Board and the Seabrook School Board who is running for reelection March 8 -- said he didn't believe his ties to Bayview will hurt his chances for reelection. Nevertheless, he is out of work. Reams ordered Bayview shut down on Wednesday.

''My livelihood's gone, the business is gone," Fuller told the newspaper.

Yesterday, local refrigeration contractor Roger Dowling said one of his employees did some work at the crematorium a few years ago and said that everything seemed fine.

''This was all just as shocking to me as it was to the rest of the world," said Dowling.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.