SUMTER, S.C. --- A forensic investigator and Humane Society officers used light tools and their fingers Saturday to unearth the remains of horses found on land once owned by the family of a suspended state official.

The remains of at least nine horses were found in separate shallow graves on the property once owned by Assistant Agriculture Commissioner James Trexler and his mother and brother, said Sumter County sheriff's Sgt. Randy Wright.

All three have been charged with abusing horses after Humane Society investigators seized 28 malnourished animals at two fields in Richland County. Those horses were being boarded with a West Columbia veterinarian and were expected to survive, said Humane Society spokeswoman Kelly Graham.

Melinda Merck, a veterinarian with the ASPCA in Atlanta, examined the burial sites on the 50-acre one-time horse farm in Sumter. She gathered bones for testing to determine how the animals died and insect residue to determine how long they may have been buried.

Hazelene Trexler faces 28 counts of ill treatment to animals for horses found in two locations in rural Richland County. Terry Trexler faces 23 counts and James Trexler faces five. All three were arrested at James Trexler's home Wednesday. Hazelene and Terry Trexler remained in jail.

Terry Trexler also is charged with kidnapping after police say he prevented a Humane Society investigator from leaving when she came with a camera to land he and his mother leased, where 23 horses were confiscated Monday.

Both are fugitives from Georgia, where each faces 30 counts of animal cruelty charges after horses were found starving in October on leased, parched land about 40 miles from Augusta. One had already died, said a Jefferson County sheriff's deputy.