Tragedy exposes flaws in Idaho's coroner system

from Idaho Matters · host Boise State Public Radio

Taylor’s office doubles as the county morgue. The property is flanked by rental houses. Next to the building is a trailer-sized garage where Taylor parks the Chevrolet Suburban that he and his employees use to transport bodies.(Natalie Behring / <a href="https://www.propublica.org/" target="_blank" link-data="{&quot;cms.site.owner&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;00000176-cd8c-dd4d-a7f6-fdbc82e80000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;ae3387cc-b875-31b7-b82d-63fd8d758c20&quot;},&quot;cms.content.publishDate&quot;:1731608406439,&quot;cms.content.publishUser&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;00000192-d3d5-d08a-ad9a-f3f571c30000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc&quot;},&quot;cms.content.updateDate&quot;:1731608406439,&quot;cms.content.updateUser&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;00000192-d3d5-d08a-ad9a-f3f571c30000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc&quot;},&quot;cms.directory.paths&quot;:[],&quot;anchorable.showAnchor&quot;:false,&quot;link&quot;:{&quot;attributes&quot;:[],&quot;cms.directory.paths&quot;:[],&quot;linkText&quot;:&quot;ProPublica&quot;,&quot;target&quot;:&quot;NEW&quot;,&quot;attachSourceUrl&quot;:false,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.propublica.org/&quot;,&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;00000193-2be7-d5fd-a7fb-bbf753400000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;ff658216-e70f-39d0-b660-bdfe57a5599a&quot;},&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;00000193-2be7-d5fd-a7fb-bbf7533f0000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288&quot;}">ProPublica</a>)It was a cold morning in February when mom Alexis Cooley woke up to find her newborn baby wasn’t breathing; he was pronounced dead a short while later at the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.His parents wanted to know why Onyxx, who seemed to be a healthy baby, had died suddenly in the night, yet the Bonneville County Coroner did not order an autopsy.Audrey Dutton is the Idaho-based reporter for ProPublica in the Northwest. She did a deep dive into this case and into Idaho’s coroner system.She found that Idaho coroners are elected to office, do not have to have any medical or legal background, and have very few rules they have to follow in Idaho when it comes to investigating deaths like this. She also found that coroners’ responses to cases vary widely from county to county in the Gem State.Dutton joined Idaho Matters to talk more about this story.

What this episode covers

Taylor’s office doubles as the county morgue. The property is flanked by rental houses. Next to the building is a trailer-sized garage where Taylor parks the Chevrolet Suburban that he and his employees use to transport bodies.(Natalie Behring / <a href="https://www.propublica.org/" target="_blank" link-data="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000176-cd8c-dd4d-a7f6-fdbc82e80000","_type":"ae3387cc-b875-31b7-b82d-63fd8d758c20"},"cms.content.publishDate":1731608406439,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000192-d3d5-d08a-ad9a-f3f571c30000","_type":"6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc"},"cms.content.updateDate":1731608406439,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000192-d3d5-d08a-ad9a-f3f571c30000","_type":"6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc"},"cms.directory.paths":[],"anchorable.showAnchor":false,"link":{"attributes":[],"cms.directory.paths":[],"linkText":"ProPublica","target":"NEW","attachSourceUrl":false,"url":"https://www.propublica.org/","_id":"00000193-2be7-d5fd-a7fb-bbf753400000","_type":"ff658216-e70f-39d0-b660-bdfe57a5599a"},"_id":"00000193-2be7-d5fd-a7fb-bbf7533f0000","_type":"809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288"}">ProPublica</a>) It was a cold morning in February when mom Alexis Cooley woke up to find her newborn baby wasn’t breathing; he was pronounced dead a short while later at the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. His parents wanted to know why Onyxx, who seemed to be a healthy baby, had died suddenly in the night, yet the Bonneville County Coroner did not order an autopsy. Audrey Dutton is the Idaho-based reporter for ProPublica in the Northwest. She did a deep dive into this case and into Idaho’s coroner system. She found that Idaho coroners are elected to office, do not have to have any medical or legal background, and have very few rules they have to follow in Idaho when it comes to investigating deaths like this. She also found that coroners’ responses to cases vary widely from county to county in the Gem State. Dutton joined Idaho Matters to talk more about this story.

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Tragedy exposes flaws in Idaho's coroner system

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This episode was published on November 14, 2024.

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