No. 79 · MARION COUNTY · OFFICE OF THE CORONER · INQUEST RECORD
Document 79 · MAY MMXXVI

Office of the
Coroner.

A statutory accounting of the office, its officers, and the contingencies for which it stands prepared, — rendered for the Marion County Board, sub-committee on emergency management.

Established — under 55 ILCS 5 Jurisdiction — Marion Co · 17121 Officers — five Callsign — 79-X
I · Mission & Authority

An office of independent elected accounting.

The Coroner is, in Illinois law, an independent elected officer — answerable to the people of the County and the statute, but not subordinate to the Sheriff, the State's Attorney, nor the Board.

“The coroner… shall inquire as to how, where, when, of what disease, or by what means any person came to his or her death, who shall die in his or her county, by criminal means, or in any sudden, unexpected, accidental, suspicious, or unusual manner.” 55 ILCS 5/3-3013 (Coroner's Act)

The office holds statutory authority over death investigations: officer-involved deaths, in-custody deaths at the County Jail and Centralia Correctional Center, unattended and suspicious deaths, traffic fatalities, industrial accidents, sudden infant deaths, and any death where the cause is not clearly natural or attended by a physician.

Under the County Emergency Operations Plan, the Coroner is the lead for fatality management within ESF-8 (Public Health & Medical), and operationally coordinates with the hospitals, the Marion County Sheriff, fire and EMS partners, and the State's Attorney.

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II · Officers of the Office

Five officers commissioned to the work.

Each officer carries radio designator 79-X; the elected Coroner and the Chief Deputy hold standing investigative authority.

Elected
Callsign 79-1

Claude Howell

Coroner of Marion County
Agency lead; statutory custodian of all death-investigation records; signs the death certificate; convenes and presides at coroner's inquest when called. Independent elected office; reports to the people of the County. // Salem · day shift · 24-hr recall
Sworn
Callsign 79-2

Feron Ice

Chief Deputy Coroner
Operational second-in-command; coverage in the Coroner's absence; primary investigator on complex and multi-agency cases. Liaison to the State's Attorney for officer-involved and in-custody deaths. // chief deputy · lead-investigator track
Sworn
Callsign 79-3

Lisa Morris

Deputy & Office Secretary
Dual-hat: sworn death-investigation deputy and administrator of the office. Records, FOIA intake, certificate filings, scheduling of inquests, and intergovernmental correspondence. // admin · records · FOIA
Sworn
Callsign 79-4

Todd Schultze

Deputy Coroner
Field response; on-scene death investigation; transport coordination with funeral homes and hospitals. After-hours and weekend rotation. // field response · rotation
Sworn
Callsign 79-5

Chad Morris

Deputy Coroner
Field response; on-scene death investigation; transport coordination with funeral homes and hospitals. After-hours and weekend rotation. // field response · rotation
III · Contact & Access

By telephone, by radio, by record.

Office Telephone
618 · 548 · 3870
After-hours via Marion Co 9-1-1.
Radio Designation
79 - X
MCSO talkgroup · STARCOM21 patch on multi-agency events.
Office Address
Co-located with County offices
Salem · 62881
Records of the Office
Marion Co Clerk
Death certificates · investigation reports per LSORA / LSC schedule.
IV · Mass-Fatality Capacity & Surge

What the County is, and is not, prepared to hold.

A sober accounting of capacity, — presented to the sub-committee that the Board may know precisely what the County is asked to keep, and what it must call for in the event of a multi-decedent event.

The contingencies of capacity.

Marion County does not operate a county-owned morgue. Decedents are held at the two general acute-care hospitals, whose cold-storage capacity is modest. The plan, accordingly, is one of federation: the County's own funeral homes are partners under MOU, and statewide mortuary support is requested through IEMA the moment a five-fatality threshold is met.

  1. No county-owned morgue. Decedents are held at SSM St. Mary's Centralia or Salem Township Hospital pending autopsy or transfer; both are general acute-care hospitals with limited cold-storage capacity, typically three to six decedents each.
  2. Autopsy referral, — outside the County. Forensic autopsies are referred to a contracted forensic pathologist, typically through the SIU School of Medicine in Springfield, or providers in the St. Louis area. No on-site autopsy capability exists in Marion County.
  3. The five-fatality threshold. A single incident producing five or more fatalities shall immediately activate the IEMA Region 9 mortuary support, a MABAS Mortuary Strike Team request, and notification to the IDPH Region 5 RHCC. Refrigerated-truck deployment, where required, is requested through the Illinois National Guard.
  4. The funeral-home partner network. Five funeral homes within the County provide private cold-storage capacity activated under a standing memorandum of understanding for multi-decedent events.
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V · Role under the E.O.P.

The triggers, and the office's answer.

Six classes of incident, each producing a different posture from the office, — here rendered as a single ledger for the sub-committee's reading.

Function
Trigger
Coroner's Role
Officer-Involved Death
An officer-involved shooting; in-custody death; in-pursuit fatality.
Lead investigator; scene control alongside ISP DIDU; report to the State's Attorney.
Traffic Fatality
Fatal motor-vehicle accident, county or state route.
Scene response with ISP and MCSO; cause-of-death determination; transport authorization.
Sudden / Unattended
Residence or public space; no attending physician at hand.
Investigation; family notification; transport to funeral home or hospital pending autopsy decision.
Mass-Casualty Event
Three or more fatalities in a single incident, or any declared disaster.
Activates the fatality-management component of ESF-8; requests IEMA and MABAS surge; coordinates with hospitals and funeral homes.
In-Custody Death
Marion County Jail, or Centralia Correctional Center.
Mandatory independent investigation; reports to the State's Attorney and the Illinois Department of Corrections.
S.U.I.D. / Infant Death
Sudden unexpected infant death.
Scene investigation per IDPH SUID protocol; coordination with the IDPH Office of Maternal & Child Health.
VI · Equipment & Vehicles

Inventory of the office not yet recorded.

The equipment inventory of the Coroner's Office — transport vehicles, scene-investigation kits, body-bag stock, blood-borne-pathogen PPE cache, evidence-collection supplies — is not yet on record with the sub-committee. Coroner Howell is respectfully asked to forward the current inventory, that the same treatment afforded the County Highway Department may be extended here.

Send the Inventory →