Coroner

About the Coroner’s Office

The coroner independently oversees all medicolegal death investigation operations and ensures compliance with applicable laws, standards, and policies.

Mission: The mission of the Kittitas County Coroner’s Office is to perform independent, impartial, and scientifically based medicolegal death investigations for individuals falling within our jurisdiction; to treat every person in our care with dignity; to communicate clearly and compassionately with families; and to preserve public trust through ethical practice and accurate, reliable documentation.

Our mission reflects the meaningful responsibility we hold on behalf of the community and the families we serve.

Statutory Establishment of Jurisdiction: The Office of the Coroner is established under RCW 36.24, RCW 68.50, and concurrently, without interfering, with federal military agencies AGO 1967 No. 3 - Jan 25, 1967.

These statutes authorize the coroner to establish jurisdiction over remains, determine cause and manner, and manage medicolegal death investigation operations for the following:

Sudden death of an apparent healthy person with no known or significant medical history

  • Suspected natural deaths in which there is no current physician to certify the death
  • Deaths in which there are abuse or neglect concerns (Adult Protective Services or Child Protective Services involvement)
  • Violent or suspicious circumstances
  • Traffic-related deaths
  • Suicides
  • All child deaths
  • All premature births and still births over 20 weeks gestation
  • All accidental deaths (falls, industrial, recreational)
  • Deaths attributed to drug overdose or drug-related
  • Deaths that occur while in legal/court/jail/prison custody
  • Deaths due to unforeseen complications of therapy, surgery, or diagnostic procedures
  • Deaths due to an injury or fracture that either was directly or contributory to decline to death, this includes those injuries that occurred years earlier.
  • Deaths due to contagious disease that may be a public health hazard
  • Indigent or unclaimed bodies