Since winning the Republican caucus in 2022 to become the county coroner, Tyler Huffer believes his office has gotten many good things accomplished in a short amount of time.
“We’ve revamped the office from the ground up in the way we do paperwork, the way we work with other government agencies in the area, such as the sheriff’s department. They have direct line of access to all of our documents now we have here - autopsy reports, toxicology reports. It’s all very streamlined now,” Huffer, 34, said in an interview Friday afternoon.
Other law enforcement agencies like NET 43 and the Warsaw and Syracuse police departments also have access to that information.
Now, Huffer is seeking re-election this year to continue as coroner for the next four years. He faces Tracy Wilson in the Republican primary in May, who he also faced in the caucus almost two years ago after Tony Ciriello resigned as coroner to join the Kosciusko County Council. Filing for the primary doesn’t end until noon Friday.
“We have been trained to be more educative. Our office needs to be more educative to educate the community on drug awareness, how people are passing away because last year we had 25 overdoses, and we need to make the community aware people are passing away in this community from fentanyl, xylazine, from meth. So, we’re trying to bring more awareness to that,” he said.
To help with that awareness, Huffer said they made a sign and posted it at the county coroner’s office at 1275 W. Lake St., Warsaw, in partnership with the sheriff’s department, that keeps a tally of the number of overdose deaths in the county. The Kosciusko County Highway Department made the sign.
The coroner’s office also will be getting a page through the Kosciusko County government’s website. Various kinds of information from the coroner’s office will be posted on it.
As for his own education to become the coroner, Huffer said he’s a licensed paramedic; a certified medical legal death investigator, which is required for coroners in Indiana; and earned his degree in mortuary science from Mid-America Mortuary College.
“So I have quite a bit of experience in all facets. We want to bring experience to our office. We want to bring compassion, especially to our office, and professionalism, which is always needed,” Huffer stated.
The coroner’s office responds to all unattended deaths in the county, which can be anything from a natural death to a vehicle accident.
Going forward, to keep himself and his office educated, Huffer said, “We attend conferences. I send our deputy coroners, when available, to conferences as well. So it’s not just me being educated, we need to educate our office as well in all different facets, from drug use to homicides.”
He said they’ve implemented policies and guidelines for coroner cases, as well as implemented rules for completing cases in a timely fashion.
When it comes to budgeting for his office, Huffer said he works closely with the auditor’s office and the county council. He said they saw some things that they could improve upon for this year and he implemented those changes for 2024.
“This year we should be OK for our budget,” he stated. “Along with that, we applied for two grants and we got them. The State Health Department issued us two grants, totaling $3,600-plus for products our coroner’s office could use, from cameras to body bags to investigative tools that we use here, for our deputies to use for our cases, which is great to have.”
His office also is working on some grants coming down the pipe soon.
The coroner’s office currently has two offices - one in the county annex building and the other at 1275 W. Lake St. Huffer said he’s working on bringing the two offices under one roof at 1275 W. Lake St. for better collaboration among the staff.
Huffer’s deputy coroners include Chief Deputy Paul Schmitt, former coroner Larry Ladd, Chris and Janelle Fancil, Alicia Mediano and Barry Sisson.
Huffer is on call from 8 a.m. Monday to 5 p.m. Friday. Deputies rotate on the weekends.
The coroner’s office is keeping more statistics on the deceased people who they see, such as ages, cause of death, etc.
“We’re trying to be more data central, so we can give that data to other agencies that need it,” Huffer said. “We’ve created partnerships with Kosciusko Cares, Kosciusko County Drug Coalition, LITE Recovery (and others).”
If re-elected, Huffer said his main objectives will be “to still bring the compassion, the professionalism is a huge one on my end, working with all the different agencies, and the care. And be thorough in our investigations that we do here at the coroner’s office to help the person that passed away, along with the taxpayers, too.”
He said he also wants his office to be fiscally conservative as well.
As to why he is the best person to serve as the county coroner, Huff concluded, “I am readily available on my phone or to meet in person 24/7. I still respond to coroner cases on the weekends, even though I am not on call. I’m still going to help the deputies that may be there. I’ll be present with them, help them in any way possible. So, I’m running for county coroner because I want the quality and the care of the office to continue in a positive direction for Kosciusko County. Our team has the skills and professionalism that our office needs.”