Wildlife workers in central Ohio have cut down a rotted-out American beech tree where investigators found three bodies stuffed in garbage bags.

Gary Ludwig _ a supervisor with Ohio's Division of Wildlife _ says authorities on Friday cut down the 60-foot tree where authorities had a day earlier recovered the remains of a mother, her 11-year-old son and a family friend.

The three victims disappeared more than a week ago from the mother's blood-spattered home along with her 13-year-old daughter, who was found alive Sunday in the basement of a Mount Vernon home owned by a tree-trimmer.

Ludwig says Knox County authorities wanted the tree removed from a wildlife preserve in Fredericktown out of respect for the victims' families and so that it would not become "a sightseeing thing."