About Us
Coroner |
The Coroner’s office is on-call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We strive to serve families by providing timely response to those needing our services, including evenings, weekends and holidays.
Indiana coroners do not investigate all deaths. Most deaths are natural in manner and certified by the attending physician. Coroners have jurisdiction over all homicides, suicides, and accidents. In addition, coroners investigate natural deaths when the death was sudden and unexpected, unwitnessed, or suspicious, or if the decedent did not have a physician. The deaths over which the coroner has jurisdiction are specified in Indiana Code 36-2-14-6.
The Coroner is an elected position authorized by Article 6, Section 2 of the Indiana Constitution and serves a four (4) year term. The coroner works with many other professionals in the investigation of certain deaths.
The Coroner and deputies are board certified Medico-legal Death Investigators. To learn more about the training standards and duties of Indiana coroners, please visit the Indiana State Coroners Training Board web site.
Our office uses the services of board certified forensic pathologists, radiologists, and toxicologists to assist us in the most accurate determination of cause and manner of death. Some of the groups and agencies we work closely with are:
- Bartholomew County Health Department
- Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office
- Columbus Police Department
- Columbus Regional Health
- Funeral homes
- Indiana Department of Child Services
- Indiana Donor Network
- Indiana State Police
Tom Barrett, MDI, Coroner
Charlie Deweese, MDI, Chief Deputy Coroner
Clayton R. Nolting, MS, MDI, Coroner 2017-2024
Tony Kummer, MDI, Deputy Coroner
Jessica Barrett, MDI, Deputy Coroner
Jay Frederick, MDI, Deputy Coroner, Office Manager
Records Request
Records requests are a vital function of the Office of Coroner. Our records provide government transparency, assist surviving families in getting answers and help insurance companies and others in the settlement of claims arising from deaths. For these reasons, we work quickly to provide records.
Death certificates are not among the records provided by the Coroner’s Office. To obtain death certificates contact the Bartholomew County Health Department’s vital records section. To learn more about obtaining death certificates, click here.
Not all records maintained by the Coroner’s Office are public records. We adhere to state and federal laws in protecting confidential records, while making public records available upon request. For information on coroner records, please see Indiana Code 36-2-14-18.
We have developed a Records Request Form to expedite service. The form can be downloaded Here