Forsyth County's coroner said the man whose suspicious death last summer triggered a multi-state investigation into an assisted suicide group may have been in pain but was not terminally ill.

Lauren McDonald said suspicions arose almost immediately after the body of John Celmer, 58, was found June 20 in his Azalea Circle home.

McDonald said Celmer had been treated for jaw cancer and had undergone two surgeries within a month of his death, but was otherwise healthy and well nourished.

“This isn’t something that just happened overnight,” he said. “It was planned, most likely before the surgery.”

Authorities say it was planned, and Wednesday charged four people in connection with the death. The suspects are believed to be members of the Final Exit Network, a Georgia-based right-to-die organization.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested two of the suspects Wednesday in Dawson County, the result of an undercover operation.

Claire Blehr, 76, of Atlanta and Thomas E. Goodwin, 63, of Florida and Kennesaw have been charged with assisted suicide, tampering with evidence and violation of the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

Authorities in Maryland, with GBI assistance, have also charged Lawrence D. Egbert, 81, and Nicholas Alec Sheridan, 60, for the same offenses. Both are from Baltimore. Sheridan remains at large. More arrests are possible.

According to a GBI report issued Wednesday, the arrests were the result of an investigation into the Final Exit Network that began June 30. According to the group’s Web site, Goodwin is president.

The report credited McDonald, Celmer's family and Cumming police in the case.

McDonald said Celmer died in his bed, where his body was “almost too perfect.”

Suicide-related periodicals were found hidden in the room of the house, which is in a neighborhood behind Lanier Crossing shopping center, off Veterans Memorial Boulevard.

The GBI was cautious about investigating the case at first.

“Of course, I explained my suspicions and said something’s not right here,” McDonald said. “They then assumed responsibility and took the case for an examination.”

Celmer’s wife declined to comment on the situation. A native of New York, Celmer was also survived by three children and eight grandchildren.

McDonald said Celmer’s wife called him two days after the death to tell him she found e-mails on a computer between her late husband and members of the Final Exit Network.

The GBI arrested Blehr and Goodwin as part of a sting operation at a home in Dawson County. An undercover GBI agent posed as a Final Exit Network member trying to get help from Blehr and Goodwin with his “suicide,” the report said.

The investigation revealed the method used in the Cumming assisted suicide involved helium inhalation. The report explained that after paying $50 and completing an application process for the network, a member is visited by an “exit guide.”

According to the report: “During the visitations, the member is instructed to purchase two helium tanks of a specific size and brand and a specific type of hood known as an ‘exit bag.’ On the day of the event, the member is visited by the ‘exit guide’ and a ‘senior exit guide,’ who takes the member through the process.”

The report said the process was confirmed through the sting operation. Once the member dies, the “guides” remove all evidence from the scene.

Attempts to reach a Final Exit spokesman for comment were not successful.

Information published on the group’s Web site shows that the volunteer organization is “dedicated to serving people who are suffering from an intolerable condition.”

“Network volunteers offer you counseling, support and even guidance to self-deliverance at a time and place of your choosing, but you always do the choosing,” the Web site says. “We will never encourage you to hasten your death.”

Georgia's assisted suicide law makes it a felony to "publicly advertise, offer, or hold himself or herself out as offering that he or she will intentionally and actively assist another person in the commission of suicide and commits an overt act to further that purpose."

A conviction could result in up to five years in prison.