Services
The Coroner’s Office is a statutory office, which is mandated to establish the cause and manner of death. The cause of death is injury, disease, or a combination of the two that was responsible for initiating the train of physiological disturbances (brief or prolonged) which produced the fatal termination. The manner of death refers to the circumstances in which the cause of death arose (suicide, natural causes, accident and homicide). It is often a misconception that the responsibility for determining these vital questions lies with the law enforcement agency; however, this is the responsibility of the County Coroner.
Other Duties
- Operate efficient Coroner’s Office
- Prepare a budget for income and expenditures
- To be Conservator of Peach (throughout his/her county)
- To execute process when the Sheriff is disqualified (when sheriff is a party/involved)
- To perform duties of Sheriff when office is vacant (by death or otherwise)
- To hold Coroner’s Inquest/Coroner’s Jury
- To issue Warrant to Summon Coroner’s Jury (Coroner Inquest)
- Coroner to administer oath to jurors
- Coroner to issue subpoenas (witnesses)
- Order postmortem examination (autopsy)
- Certify cause and manner of death (death certificate)
- Order blood sample test for alcohol and drug content (all motor vehicle fatalities)
- Report toxicology results in writing to Missouri State Highway Patrol
- Procure organ donations (procurement of cadaver organ and tissue donation)
Frequently Asked Questions
When must a death be reported to the Coroner?
Deaths shall be reported and investigated by the coroner when any person dies as a result of:
- Violence by homicide, suicide, or accident
- Criminal abortion, including those self-induced
- Some unforeseen sudden occurrence and the deceased had not been attended by a physician during the thirty-six hour period preceding the death
- In any unusual or suspicious manner
- Any injury or illness while in custody of the law or while an inmate in a public institution
- The death of a child under the age of eighteen years old, and eligible to receive a certificate of live birth
- Any resident of a residential care facility which dies at the facility
- When death occurs outside a licensed health facility
