White County Coroner

Erwin B. Cook

Did You Know?

Coroners investigate:

• Homicides;
• Suicides;
• Crashes;
• Death by natural causes;
• Inmate deaths or cases in which cause of death originated while deceased was incarcerated;
• Deaths caused by diseases that may be public health threats;
• Deaths of people whose bodies are to be cremated, buried at sea, transported out of state or otherwise unavailable for pathological study; and
• Deaths of transplant surgery donors that are the result of some type of trauma.

The vast majority of coroner investigations are natural deaths, including situations in which there is no attending physician to sign the death certificate, sudden or unexpected deaths, or cases involving alcohol or other drugs of abuse.

The Coroner "speaks for the dead."  He or she is an independent investigative agent who has been given constitutional powers usually reserved for officers of the court.  He or she can issue subpoenas to be done and toxicological examinations to be completed upon the body.

All deaths which occur under suspicious, unusual or unnatural circumstances including deathes attended by a physician can be made Coroner's cases.

The coroner does not wish to case the family increased grief and tension at an already stressful moment in their lives.  Your Coroner will always consider the wishes of the family against the need for civil or criminal processing, but the Coroner does not need permission of any family member to complete his or her investigation.

Nervousness and anxiety are almost always exhibited at a death scene.  When the coroner and law enforcement are added to this event, the scene can be in turmoil.

The first officers on the scene are perceived as terrible individuals.  The restrict people, even family members, from immediate areas of the death.  Sometimes they will ask families to leave their own homes.  They are doing this because they have orders from the coroner to protect the scene.

Until a proper investigation and review of the information on hand can be completed, every death brought to the attention of the Coroner must be treated as a criminal activity.  We have no choice.  Contaminated evidence is useless.  

Your coroner will hasten to complete his or her determination so that in those areas where there is no criminal activity or anticipated civil litigation, the Coroner and law enforcement can vacate the premises quickly and allow the family to grieve.

There are 92 county Coroners in Indiana.  There are only 2 Coroners paid a full time salary in Indiana;  Lake and Vanderburg.

Very few people are aware that the Coroner is on call 24 hours a day, 365 days of a year. 

Area Plan / Assessor / Auditor / Chamber of Commerce / Circuit Court / Clerk / Commissioners / Coroner / Council / Industrial Foundation / Emergency Management / Purdue Cooperative Extension / Highway Department / Health Department / Maintenance / Probation Department / Prosecutor / Recorder / Recycling  / Sheriff / Solid Waste Management District / Superior Court / Surveyor / Treasurer / Veterans Affairs