In the courts, the name William Henry Furman carries national significance. His landmark capital murder case effectively overturned death penalty statutes in every state in the nation.
But in the basement of a nondescript building on Third Street in Macon, Furman is just another name on a small box. More than six years after his death, his remains sit tucked away on one of five metal shelves filled with similar containers.
In all, 232 boxes of unclaimed ashes are gathering dust in the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office Central Records building, awaiting a final resting place. Among them are the unidentified, alongside people who died homeless, estranged or with no known next of kin…