By MONROE ROARK
Staff Writer

The recent examination of Beverley Watson's remains was concluded in a way that caught more than a couple of people off guard.

Officials in Fayette County are wondering why they were not notified by the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office when her bones were released to her husband, Jim, for final disposition.

A funeral home authorized by Jim Watson received the remains July 27, according to Fulton County associate medical examiner Dr. Carol Terry. A spokesman for Lee Sexton, Jim Watson's attorney, confirmed that Beverley Watson was then cremated.

Neither Sexton, who is on leave until Aug. 30, nor Fayette district attorney Bill McBroom, who is on vacation this week, was available for comment.

Maj. Terry Mulkey of the Fulton County Police Department said Monday morning that the case has been turned over to the Fulton County DA's office for review.

Beverley Watson disappeared from her Fayette County home in 1997. A surveyor in south Fulton County last March found bones that were later determined to be her remains.

No cause of death has been determined, and no one has officially said that foul play was involved.

The remains found were only a portion of Watson's body, Terry said. Specimens were retained in case additional bones were found, so that they could be compared and identification could be verified.

After an examination of this nature is completed, the medical examiner's office is bound by law to turn over the remains to the nearest next-of-kin, especially if that party makes a request for them to do so, Terry said. She confirmed that Jim Watson had made such a request.

A court order would be required for anyone, including a law enforcement agency, to have the body held after the examination, according to Terry, and there was no such request to her knowledge.

Maj. Bruce Jordan, head of the Criminal Investigations Division of the Fayette County's Sheriff's Department, was quite surprised at this turn of events. His office did not even receive a phone call from the examiner when Watson's body was released.

“I found out from friends of Beverley Watson that they had released the body,” said Jordan. “We had specifically asked them not to. It was something we considered evidence.”

Jordan added that Fulton County police were as shocked as he was when this occurred.

Terry said that she spoke with Jordan and McBroom only once, right after the discovery was made, and no arrangements were made to have the body held after the examination was completed.

Jordan conceded his disappointment but said the cremation does not necessarily damage the case, should it go to trial. He added that there has been no absolute determination as to where it would be tried — Fayette or Fulton.

Jim Watson has never been charged with any crime in connection with his wife's disappearance, and law enforcement authorities in Fayette County have never identified him as a suspect.

Jim Bischoff, Beverley Watson's attorney, learned about her cremation Monday morning and said, “I'm shocked, too.”

But he added that he has no further role in the outcome of this case, except as “somebody who represented her and who is going to cooperate with law enforcement in every way I can.”

Just after her body was discovered, Bischoff turned over materials to investigators that he said were pertinent to her case. He would not identify the materials, but said she had instructed him to turn them over if anything ever happened to her.

Bischoff said Beverley Watson left no instructions with him concerning her final disposition.