The County Coroner is responsible for investigating deaths to determine cause and manner. Findings are then reported to the State Health Department, and the State Medical Examiner.

The Coroner must determine through the investigation whether the death was natural, accidental, homicidal, suicidal, or of undetermined causes. The Coroner determines when an autopsy is performed and, in many cases, witness the autopsy. The Coroner is responsible for notifying the relatives and/or loved ones of the unfortunate death and does this in person when at all possible. Each employee of the Coroner’s Office makes certain that this process be accomplished showing courtesy and sympathy to the loved ones of the deceased throughout its entirety.