Crawford County Coroner Recorded 282 Deaths, 33 Autopsies In 2022

There were 282 deaths reported to the Crawford County Coroner’s Office in 2022, with 33 requiring an autopsy.

Those were the findings presented on Tuesday by Coroner Darren Dake to the county commission. 

The county must send off bodies to Boone County to be autopsied.

Twenty-eight cases required a complete autopsy. 

Four cases needed a limited examination and one case required an external examination.

Five people were determined to have died by suicide.

Four people died from overdosing on drugs.

Two people’s deaths were attributed to fentanyl.

Three people died from meth intoxication, including one person who had a brain bleed due to the drug and additionally, COVID-19.

One person died in a workplace accident.

Three people’s deaths were undetermined.

Other deaths were via COVID-19, natural causes, stroke, cardiac related and other medical events.

In his report, Dake said the coroner determines the cause and manner of death and certifies deaths reported to the coroner.

The cause of death is defined as the disease process or injury that resulted in death.

“There are thousands of diseases and injuries that may result in death,” Dake wrote. “The manner of death is a classification in which a determination is made regarding whether the death resulted from natural causes, homicide, suicide or an accident.

During the death investigation, the office collects information to clarify the circumstances, “such as the sequence of events prior to death.”

Evidence collected during an investigation may help lead to the arrest of or successful conviction of a suspect in a homicide case, Dake wrote. 

Types of deaths reported the coroner are violent; accidental; death of a prisoner; suspicious; sudden and unexpected; anesthesia-related; no medical attendance within 48 hours; death of a mother due to an abortion or unexpected infant deaths.