2025 District Coroner Annual Report

Table of Contents

Report Summary

In 2025, the Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center District Coroner’s Office continued to provide medicolegal death investigation, postmortem examination, and toxicology services for Sedgwick County and partner jurisdictions throughout Kansas. The District Coroner’s Office received 4,207 death reports and accepted 1,044 cases for investigation—the highest annual accepted-case volume in the 10-year dataset. The Division provided pathology services for cases from 20 counties, underscoring its role as a regional forensic resource.

The Division completed 1,043 examinations in 2025: 488 full autopsies, 39 partial autopsies, 267 external examinations, 249 records reviews, and no skeletal remains examinations. Of all examinations completed, 123 were performed for out-of-county agencies. Report timeliness improved: 85% of applicable pathology reports were completed within 90 days of examination, the highest level achieved in the past seven years and approaching the Division’s 90% performance target. The Toxicology Laboratory completed 90% of applicable postmortem toxicology reports within 90 days of submission, meeting its secondary timeliness target.

2025 data also demonstrate the public-health and public-safety impact of violent death, suicide, and substance-related mortality. The District Coroner’s Office examined 51 homicides; firearm injuries accounted for 39 deaths (76.5%). The Office certified 123 suicide deaths. Firearm injury was the most common method, followed by hanging. Among 336 accidental deaths, 191 (56.8%) were overdose- or drug-related and 66 (19.6%) were motor-vehicle-related.

The Office reported 217 overdose deaths in 2025, including cases evaluated through full autopsy, partial autopsy, external examination, and records review. The largest number of overdose deaths occurred among decedents aged 40–49 years. Toxicology testing detected opioids in 192 postmortem cases across all manners of death. Methamphetamine was detected in 166 non-natural-death cases, and benzodiazepines were detected in 43 non-natural-death cases. These substance-specific counts reflect toxicology detection; they do not, by themselves, establish that a detected substance caused or contributed to death.

Through objective investigation, accurate determination of cause and manner of death, timely reporting, quality assurance, and collaboration with law-enforcement, health-care, public-health, and criminal-justice partners, the District Coroner’s Office remains committed to providing reliable information for families, the justice system, public-safety agencies, and community prevention efforts.

Data Methodology

Reporting Period. The reporting period for this annual report is January 1 through December 31, 2025. Unless otherwise specified, data are reported by the applicable event date: case-report year, case-acceptance year, examination year, report-finalization year, or death year. Turnaround-time measures are calculated from the examination date to the report-finalization date.

Toxicology Interpretation. A positive toxicology result establishes that a substance or its metabolite was detected in a tested specimen. Detection of a drug, alcohol, or other substance does not, by itself, establish impairment, toxicity, cause of death, or contribution to death.

Toxicology Section Date Parameters. In the Toxicology section of this report all statistics are calculated per death year.

Rounding. Percentages are rounded and, therefore, may not total exactly 100% in all tables, charts, and figures.

Data-extraction Date. Data were extracted from the Laboratory Information Management System and applicable case management records between October 6-8, 2026. Data reflects case information at the time of extraction.

Amended Cause and Manner of Death. Cause and manner of death determinations reflect the status of the case at the time of data extraction. Findings may be amended when additional investigative, medical, or laboratory information becomes available. This may cause some data to differ slightly from another annual report.

Counts. Unless otherwise noted, counts represent individual cases or decedents. A single case may be represented in more than one substance-specific category; therefore, substance-specific totals should not be summed to calculate an unduplicated total.

All Counties. “All Counties” includes Sedgwick County cases and cases received from outside jurisdictions for which the District Coroner’s Office performed services. This includes cases for which the Division performed services during the applicable operational year. For death-year analyses, it includes decedents whose deaths occurred in the year reported to have occurred. For examination analyses, it includes cases that were examined in the operational year.

Data Limitations

Data in this report are based on information available at the time of publication. Case findings, including cause and manner of death, may be amended when additional investigative, medical, or toxicological information becomes available. Counts and percentages may differ from other public-health or law-enforcement reports because of differences in jurisdiction, case definitions, reporting periods, and data-extraction methods.

Operational sections use report-year and/or examination-year anchors. Public-health and public-safety sections use death year unless otherwise noted.

Key Terminology

Autopsy: An autopsy is a postmortem examination that is performed by the District Coroner’s Office and has three distinct types: Full Autopsy, Partial Autopsy, and External Examination.

Full Autopsy: A full autopsy is a comprehensive postmortem examination that includes an external examination and internal examination of the major body cavities and organs. It is performed to identify injuries, disease, and other findings relevant to determining cause and manner of death. The examination may include collection of specimens for toxicology, histology, microbiology, DNA analysis, or other ancillary testing.

Partial Autopsy: A partial autopsy is a limited internal postmortem examination performed when a complete autopsy is not necessary, is limited by investigative or legal circumstances, or is limited by the condition of the remains. It may focus on a specific body region, organ system, injury, or medical question relevant to determining cause and manner of death. An external examination and collection of ancillary specimens may also be performed.

External Examination: An external examination is a postmortem examination limited to the outside of the body. It documents identifying features, clothing, medical interventions, externally visible injuries or disease, and other relevant observations. It does not include internal dissection. Toxicology specimens, imaging, photographs, and investigative records may be considered with the external examination to support determination of cause and manner of death.

Record Review: A record review is a medicolegal case evaluation based on available investigative, medical, law enforcement, scene, witness, and laboratory records without a physical examination of the decedent. It is used when the available documentation is sufficient to determine cause and manner of death or to determine that no postmortem examination is required.

Death-Certificate Review: A death-certificate review is an administrative and medicolegal review of a proposed or completed death certificate to confirm that the cause and manner of death are appropriately documented and that the certification meets applicable legal, medical, and vital-statistics requirements. It generally does not involve a physical examination of the decedent and may occur in connection with cremation authorization or other final-disposition processes.

Drug-Related Death: A drug-related death is a death in which one or more drugs, alcohol, or other toxic substances were determined to have caused or materially contributed to death. This category may include overdose deaths, poisonings, deaths resulting from impairment, and certain accidents, suicides, or undetermined deaths in which substance use contributed to the fatal outcome. The detection of a substance alone does not establish that it caused or contributed to death.

Overdose Death: An overdose death is a drug-related death resulting from the toxic effects of one or more drugs or other substances. An overdose may involve prescription medications, illicit drugs, alcohol, or a combination of substances. Depending on the available evidence and circumstances, the manner of death may be certified as accident, suicide, or undetermined.

Drug-Positive Case: A drug-positive case is a case in which toxicology testing detected one or more drugs, drug metabolites, alcohol, or other toxic substances in a postmortem specimen. A drug-positive result indicates the presence of a substance but does not, by itself, establish impairment, toxicity, cause of death, or contribution to death.

Manner of Death: Manner of death classifies the circumstances of death as natural, accident, suicide, homicide, or undetermined. An undetermined manner is used when the available evidence does not support a more specific classification.

Cause of Death: Cause of death is the disease, injury, or combination of conditions responsible for initiating the sequence of events that resulted in death.

Method of Death: Method of death describes the physical means or mechanism by which the fatal injury or condition occurred. Common methods include firearm injury, blunt-force injury, sharp-force injury, poisoning or drug toxicity, hanging, drowning, burning, and motor-vehicle collision. Method of death is distinct from cause of death, which identifies the injury or disease responsible for death, and manner of death, which classifies the circumstances of death as natural, accident, suicide, homicide, or undetermined.

Accepted Cases: The number of cases accepted for investigation during the calendar year in which the death was reported. This metric is distinct from the number of examinations performed during the year because a case may be reported late in one calendar year but examined in the following year. For example, a death reported on December 31 may not be examined until January 2.

Case Type: Case types of non-released cases are categorized as either Full Autopsies, Partial Autopsies, External Examinations, Records Reviews, or Death Certificate Records Reviews. This category is distinct from Examination Type.

Examination Type: Autopsy types are categorized as either Full Autopsies, Partial Autopsies, External Examinations, Records Reviews, Human Skeletal Remains, or Non-human Skeletal Remains. This category is distinct from Case Type.

Race and Ethnicity: Demographic categories used to describe decedent population characteristics for reporting and quality-assurance purposes. Race refers to a person’s self-identified or other concerned party provided racial group (for example, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, White, or more than one race). Ethnicity refers to whether a person is of Hispanic or Latino origin; Hispanic or Latino ethnicity may be reported in combination with any race.

 

Mission

The Forensic Science Center strives to provide the highest quality medicolegal and advanced forensic laboratory services to Sedgwick County. Death Investigation and Forensic Autopsy services are conducted in a compassionate and objective manner to achieve accurate certification of cause and manner of death. The Forensic Laboratory services provide unbiased and accurate analytical testing to support the resolution of criminal cases. As an independent agency operating under the Division of Public Safety, the Forensic Science Center collaborates with public health and criminal justice stakeholders to reduce crime and prevent deaths.

History and Overview

The Regional Forensic Science Center officially opened on December 21, 1995. The Center houses the District Coroner's Office and the Forensic Science Laboratories. The District Coroner's Office is organized into two sections: Medical Investigations and Autopsy Services.

As authorized by law [K.S.A. 22a-231], the District Coroner's Office has the responsibility for investigating deaths within Sedgwick County that occur as a result of violence, by unlawful means, suddenly when in apparent health, in a suspicious or unusual manner, or while in police custody. The District Coroner's Office's jurisdiction also applies to deaths of individuals not regularly attended by a physician and when the determination of the cause of death is held to be in the public interest. The primary goal of investigation and the postmortem examination is to determine cause and manner of death in order to generate a death certificate.

Cause of death is the injury or disease that results in death. Manner of death is determined by circumstances in which the death occurred and can be categorized as natural, accident, homicide, suicide, and undetermined. Undetermined manner of death is used when circumstances are unknown or are unclear.

The District Coroner's Office has been accredited by the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) since 2001.

Pathology Leadership

Director

Shelly Steadman, PhD

District Coroner-Chief Medical Examiner

Timothy S. Gorrill, MD, PhD

Chief Medical Investigator

Shari L. Beck, F-ABMDI

Quality Assurance and Compliance Manager

Robert C. Hansen II, M.S.F.S.

Counties Served

In 2025, the majority of services provided were for Sedgwick County; however, the Center does provide, on a fee-for-service basis, autopsy examinations for many of the counties in the southcentral region of the state. In total, pathology examinations were performed on cases from 20 counties in 2025 [Figure 1].

According to the US Census Bureau Quick Facts website the 2025 estimated population living in Sedgwick County is approximately 550,000 and the metropolitan population including contiguous counties (Sedgwick, Reno, Harvey, Butler, Cowley, Sumner, and Kingman) is approximately 800,000 residents.

Distribution of Cases: In-County vs. Out-of-County

The District Coroner's Office serves as a resource for other Kansas counties. Of the 1,043 total examinations performed in 2025, 123 were conducted for out-of-county agencies, representing approximately 11.8% of all examinations [Figure 2]. Compared with 2016, the number of examinations performed by the Division increased by approximately 18.8%, from 878 to 1,043.

Medical Investigations

The District Coroner's Office is staffed by a Chief Medical Investigator and six Medical Investigators. Medical Investigators provide services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. On behalf of the District Coroner’s Office, they triage all reported deaths. In 2025, the office received 4,207 death reports, the highest annual total on record. When a death falls under the jurisdiction of the District Coroner’s Office, Medical Investigators respond to the scene to document relevant circumstances and collect evidence pertinent to the death investigation.

Of the deaths reported in 2025, the District Coroner’s Office accepted 1,044 cases for investigation, including postmortem examinations, physician record reviews, and death certificate reviews [Figure 3]. This was the highest annual number of accepted cases in the provided 10-year dataset. Over the past 10 years, the 10,075 accepted cases represented 26.4% of the 38,153 deaths reported to the office. Compared with 2016, reported deaths increased approximately 21.6%, while cases accepted for examination increased approximately 18.6% in 2025.

Medical Investigators may attend the scene of a death when it occurs outside of a hospital setting. Pertinent circumstantial and physical observations are documented and photographed, and items of evidence are collected in accordance with state law, good forensic principles and accreditation requirements established by the National Association of Medical Examiners [NAME]. The number of scene investigations by Medical Investigators per year [Figure 4] has shown a steady increase between 2016 and 2021 and then declined since. Between 2016 and 2025 there has been approximately a 13.5% increase in the number of death scenes attended by Medical Investigators.

Case Autopsies and Examinations

Cases accepted for examination by the District Coroner’s Office are categorized as Full Autopsies, Partial Autopsies, External Examinations, Records Reviews, Human Skeletal Remains, or Non-human Skeletal Remains. Table 1 presents the number of cases examined in each category over the past 10 examination years.

An important distinction should be made between the year a case is accepted and the year in which the examination is conducted. The total number of examinations conducted in a given year may not equal the number of cases accepted for examination during that same year because a case may be accepted in one year and examined in the following year. For example, a case accepted on December 31, 2024, may not be examined until January 2, 2025.

Full Autopsies and Partial Autopsies involve an incision to permit internal examination of the decedent. During these examinations, the pathologist investigates internal findings relevant to determining the cause and manner of death. An External Examination consists of an assessment of the decedent’s body without internal examination. It is performed when the available circumstances, records, and external findings do not indicate a need for an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death. A Records Review involves examination of the decedent’s medical history and other available records to assist in determining the cause and manner of death. Skeletal remains may also be submitted for examination and are categorized as either Human Skeletal Remains or Non-human Skeletal Remains.

Figure 5 shows the number of postmortem examinations conducted on decedents, including Full Autopsies, Partial Autopsies, and External Examinations. The figure excludes skeletal remains and administrative examination types, including Records Reviews and Death Certificate Reviews. Among 794 physical postmortem examinations, 61.5% were full autopsies, 33.6% external examinations, and 4.9% partial autopsies.

Pathology Report Timeliness

A key measure of District Coroner's Office efficiency is the percentage of autopsy reports completed within 90 days of the examination date. Performance on this measure depends in part on the timeliness of Toxicology Laboratory testing and on the time required for the assigned pathologist to complete the autopsy report after toxicology results are issued.

In 2025, 85% of District Coroner's Office cases, including full autopsies, partial autopsies, external examinations, and records reviews, were completed within 90 days of examination. This was the highest percentage achieved in the past seven years and approaches the Division’s stated goal of completing 90% of cases within 90 days of examination.

In 2025, 65% of toxicology reports were completed within 60 days and 90% within 90 days; the latter met the secondary target.  [Figure 6]

Cause and Manner of Death

The District Coroner’s Office determines the medical cause and manner of death for cases within its jurisdiction. Manner of death classifies the circumstances as natural, accident, suicide, homicide, or undetermined. Determining criminal intent, motive, or legal responsibility remains the role of law-enforcement and prosecutorial agencies.

Cause of Death

Cause of death identifies the disease, injury, or toxic exposure that initiated the fatal sequence.

Manner of Death

Manner of death classifies the circumstances as natural, accident, suicide, homicide, or undetermined. Determining criminal intent, motive, or legal responsibility remains the role of law-enforcement and prosecutorial agencies.

Figure 7 shows the breakdown of the 2025 deaths by manner by the death year from all case types, including full autopsies, partial autopsies, external examinations, records reviews, and death certificate investigations. Human and non-human skeletal remains are not included.

Homicides are deaths that result from injuries inflicted by another person. Homicides constituted 4.9% of the cases for 2025. The majority (76.5%) of these deaths resulted from firearm injuries.

Suicides are defined as deaths that result from a purposeful action to end one’s own life. In 2025, approximately 11.8% of the cases were certified as suicides.

Approximately 50.4% of deaths were certified as accidents, which are those that resulted from an unintentional event or chain of events. This category includes most motor-vehicle-related, falls, and accidental drug overdoses.

Natural deaths are those that are solely caused by natural disease and constitute approximately 29.9% of the cases. The most common cause of death in cases of sudden, unexpected natural death is coronary artery disease.

Cases that were classified as an undetermined manner of death constituted approximately 3.0% of the total caseload.

For this quality measure, non-natural deaths included cases with a determined manner of death—accident, suicide, or homicide—as well as cases certified as undetermined. Of the 1,044 total deaths, 313 were natural; therefore, 731 were classified as non-natural. Undetermined deaths were further categorized based on whether a cause of death was identified. Table 2 presents the distribution of non-natural deaths across these categories.

Accidents

For cases examined by full autopsy, partial autopsy, or external examination in 2025, 336 cases were determined to have an accidental manner of death. As shown in Table 3, motor-vehicle-related deaths accounted for 66 accidental deaths (19.6%), while approximately 56.8% were overdose- or drug-related deaths. Of the 1,014 cases for which a manner of death was determined for deaths occurring in 2025, overdose- or drug-related deaths represented 18.8%.

Homicides

The District Coroner’s Office certified 51 deaths occurring in 2025 as homicides, a decrease of approximately 5.5% from the prior year. As illustrated in Figure 8, most homicides originated within Sedgwick County. Table 4 and Table 5 classify 2025 homicide victims by sex and race or ethnicity.

Table 4 illustrates the count and percentage of homicides by decedent sex per death year.

Table 5 illustrates the count and percentage of the decedent race or ethnicity per death year.

Figures 9 and 10 present the number of homicide deaths over the past 10 years among male and female decedents categorized by race or ethnicity per death year, respectively. The range of homicide deaths among male individuals is a low of 32 in 2022 and a high of 62 in 2021, with a 10-year average of approximately 45. The range of homicide deaths among female individuals is a low of 8 in 2019 and a high of 20 in 2023, with a 10-year average of approximately 13.

Figure 11 illustrates the number of cases certified as homicide categorized by decedent age group and death year. As depicted, most homicides involved decedents within the age group of 19-29 years old in 2025.

Table 6 illustrates the percentage of homicides occurring in 2025 categorized by what was determined to be the method of death. As depicted, most homicides were caused by the use of firearms.

Suicides

There were 123 cases certified as suicide in 2025. Figure 12 shows a range of 109 to 150 suicides per year over the past 10 years.

Table 7 provides the percentage of suicides by sex per death year. In 2025, males accounted for approximately 74.8% of suicides and female decedents accounted for 25.2% of suicide deaths.

Table 8 provides the percentage of 2025 suicides by race. White decedents accounted for the greatest percentage of suicides.

Figures 13 and 14 present the number of suicide deaths over the past 10 years among male and female decedents categorized by race or ethnicity per death year. The range of suicide deaths among male individuals is a low of 83 in 2024 and a high of 128 in 2020, with a 10-year average of approximately 101. The range of suicide deaths among female individuals is a low of 19 in 2021 and a high of 36 in 2018, with a 10-year average of approximately 28.

As shown in Figure 15, the largest number of suicide deaths in 2025 occurred among individuals aged 30 to 39 years (29 deaths), followed closely by individuals aged 19 to 29 and 40 to 49 years.

1. For deaths occurring in 2025, the most common suicide method of death was the use of firearms (63) followed by hanging (33) [Table 9]. The method of death category of other cases includes Drug and/or Alcohol-Related (15), Sharp Injuries (4), Carbon Monoxide Poisoning (2), Jump-Related (1), Motor-Vehicle-Related (1), Sepsis (1), Thermal Injuries (1), Toxic Substance Poisoning (1), and Other (1).

Toxicology

The Toxicology Laboratory analyzes specimens from decedents to assist the medical examiner in determining cause and manner of death by identifying the presence and quantity of toxic substances. 

For deaths occurring in 2025 for which specimens were collected for toxicological analysis, 788 cases were submitted to the Toxicology Laboratory. The annual number of submitted cases ranged from 728 in 2017 to 975 in 2022 [Figure 16].

Even when toxicological specimens are collected during an examination, toxicological analysis may not be necessary for the pathologist to determine the cause and manner of death. Specimens are nevertheless submitted to the Toxicology Laboratory for proper storage and may be analyzed at a later date if needed. Of the 788 cases submitted from deaths occurring in 2025, the laboratory analyzed 762; toxicology testing was not required in the remaining 26 cases [Figure 17].

Motor-Vehicle-Related Deaths

Specimens were submitted in 68 motor-vehicle-related cases of deaths occurring in 2025. Testing was performed in 67 of the cases; one submitted case did not have testing requested. Table 10 depicts the results of testing for ethanol (EtOH) and drugs from the 67 cases that were analyzed. One case was submitted, but analysis was not requested.

Twenty-one (21) decedents from motor-vehicle-related deaths tested positive for drugs with no EtOH detected, 6 were positive for EtOH with no drugs detected, 14 were positive for EtOH and drugs, and in 26 decedents neither EtOH nor drugs were detected.

Of the 20 EtOH positive blood specimens [Figure 18], 18 exceeded the Kansas per se driving legal limit of 0.08 gm%. The highest blood alcohol result in a fatal motor-vehicle-related was 0.389 gm%.

Drug-Positive Deaths

Toxicology findings are interpreted in conjunction with autopsy findings, medical history, scene investigation, and other case information. A detected substance may be present without causing or contributing to death. Accordingly, this report distinguishes between drug-positive cases, in which a substance was detected, and drug-related deaths, in which a substance was determined to have caused or materially contributed to death.

In drug-related deaths, it is very common for the Toxicology Laboratory to detect opioids, methamphetamine, and/or a benzodiazepine in the specimens collected at autopsy or at the hospital prior to death. These drugs are especially common in cases determined to be overdoses, although they are not necessarily detected in every case.

Of particular interest for public health and public safety are overdose deaths and other death types that had either an opioid, methamphetamine, or a benzodiazepine detected. Information about these are provided below.

Drug-Related (Overdose) Deaths

Overdose deaths are drug-related deaths that may be classified as accidental or intentional. In 2025, the District Coroner’s Office reported 217 overdose deaths, an increase of approximately 95.4% from 2016 but a decrease of 27.6% from the 2022 total [Figure 19]. This death-year total includes cases classified as Full Autopsies, External Examinations, Partial Autopsies, and Records Reviews.

For toxicology reporting, Records Reviews and skeletal-remains cases are excluded because no toxicology specimens are submitted for analysis in those cases. After excluding Records Reviews, 208 overdose deaths were included in the examined-case total used for toxicology summaries.

Table 11 illustrates the count of drug-related (overdose) deaths in 2025 within various age groups. The greatest number of overdose deaths occurred in the 40- to 49-year-old age group.

Opioid-Positive Postmortem Cases

Opioid-positive postmortem cases across all manners of death reached an all-time high of 298 in 2022, exceeding the previous high of 259 cases in 2021. Counts subsequently declined, reaching 192 cases in 2025. Over the past 10 years, annual opioid-positive postmortem case counts have ranged from 136 to 298, with an average of approximately 195 cases; therefore, the 2025 total was slightly below the 10-year average. Figure 20 presents annual opioid-positive postmortem case counts and highlights the number of fentanyl-positive cases.

Table 12 illustrates the count of fentanyl-positive drug-related/overdose postmortem cases in 2025 within each age group. The greatest number of deaths in which fentanyl was detected occurred in the 40- to 49-year-old age group, followed closely by the 30- to 39-year-old age group.

Table 13 illustrates the count of opioid-positive postmortem cases per non-natural manner and cause of death, which consisted of 163 cases. Additionally, there were 29 cases determined to be natural that the decedent had an opioid detected in their toxicology specimens.

Methamphetamine-Positive Postmortem Cases

There was a total of 166 methamphetamine-positive postmortem cases that had a non-natural manner of death. The number of methamphetamine-positive non-natural death postmortem cases the preceding 3 years are: 193 in 2022, 177 in 2023, and 165 in 2024.

Table 14 illustrates the count of methamphetamine-positive postmortem cases per non-natural manner and cause of death. Additionally, there were 13 cases determined to be natural where methamphetamine was detected in the decedent’s toxicology specimens.

Benzodiazepine-Positive Postmortem Cases

There was a total of 43 benzodiazepine-positive postmortem cases that had a non-natural manner of death. The number of benzodiazepine-positive non-natural death postmortem cases the previous 3 years are: 75 in 2022, 58 in 2023, and 58 in 2024.

Table 15 illustrates the count of benzodiazepine-positive postmortem cases per non-natural manner and cause of death. Additionally, there were 9 cases determined to be natural where a benzodiazepine was detected in the decedent’s toxicology specimen(s).

Indigent Cremations

Bodies under the jurisdiction of the District Coroner’s Office shall be released to the deceased’s immediate family or next of kin in accordance with applicable law. If no immediate family member or next of kin can be located after a diligent search, or if no person with legal authority assumes responsibility for final disposition, Sedgwick County will arrange for final disposition as required by K.S.A. 22a-215. When no immediate family member or next of kin can be located or assumes responsibility for final disposition, the Center may work with concerned community members or organizations that wish to assist with arrangements.

K.S.A. 22a-215 provides that, when delivery is not otherwise required, the coroner shall cause the body to be cremated or buried. The statute also addresses authorization and payment of final-disposition expenses. The Forensic Science Center has established procedures to coordinate arrangements for cremation of unclaimed individuals. The Center maintains a contract with a local mortuary service to provide final disposition services.

As of 2016, the Center cremates all unclaimed bodies under its jurisdiction [Figure 21]. The cremains are retained indefinitely.

Indigent cremations increased from 33 in 2016 to 74 in 2025, representing an approximate 124.2% increase in the number of decedents for whom the Center arranged final disposition. Although the 2025 total remains substantially higher than the 2016 total, it has declined in each of the past two years since reaching an annual high of 93 cremations in 2023.

Cremation Permits

In the state of Kansas, the District Coroner's Office is also charged with the investigation of death if the body is to be cremated. The investigation involves confirmation that the death certificate is appropriately executed, and that no further circumstances exist which may have contributed to the death. This may involve interviews with medical personnel, families or other interested parties, and/or a review of medical records. If the cause of death is unclear or falls under the jurisdiction of the District Coroner's Office, a postmortem examination and issuance of a revised death certificate may be required prior to cremation. Figure 22 illustrates the number of cremations over the past 10 years. The 3,913 cremation permits in 2025 were the highest total in the past 10 years, increasing by approximately 61.9% since 2016.

Remarks

Census data obtained from U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts.

K.S.A. 22a-215, “Disposition of Body of Deceased; Burial, When; Expenses, How Paid; Penalties.” The statute directs delivery to immediate family or next of kin, refers to Chapter 65 procedures if neither exists, and provides for cremation or burial when delivery is not required. Further information can be found on the ksrevisor.gov website.

National Association of Medical Examiners inspection and accreditation program can be located on their website thename.org.