Board boosts coroner's budget

SANDPOINT — Bonner County commissioners unanimously agreed on Tuesday to boost Bonner County Coroner Robert Beers’ budget for autopsies.

The board adopted a resolution shifting $20,000 from the county’s general fund statutory reserves to the coroner’s autopsy line item, increasing it from $31,785 to $51,785.

“The autopsies, unfortunately, this year have been running way higher than normal,” Bonner County Clerk Michael Rosedale said.

Beers requested 14 autopsies for the 2019 fiscal year. He said 11 of those autopsies were requested for individuals who were 50 years old or younger.

“We had a lot of young people die this year with no significant medical history,” Beers said, adding that they weren’t smokers or drinkers.

In six cases, the manner of death was ruled accidental. Three people — Joshua Cole, James Costello Jr. and Robert Hegseth — died by homicide, Beers said.

There were also two suicides and one natural death. Two more deaths remain under investigation.

Beers said he budgets for 15 autopsies a year and there are still two months of the fiscal year to go, which created the need for additional spending authority.

In 2012, the coroner’s office investigated 60 cases over the course of the calendar year. Beers said the annual case load has doubled in five years.

In 2017, there 122 cases investigated during the calendar year. There were 104 cases investigated during the 2018 calendar year.

The coroner’s office also conducted an inquest into the death of Mirissa Serrano, who was found dead in the Panhandle National Forest.

Beers said the cost of autopsies, which are conducted by the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office, has risen by $219, resulting in a total cost of $2,119 each.

However, that sum just covers the cost of a forensic pathologist to perform the autopsy.

The cost does not include room rental, body transport, lab work, toxicology reports or X-rays. Once those costs are factored in, the cost of an autopsy can fall into the $2,500- to $3,000-range, Beers said.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.