Law enforcement
How do I report a death?
Call our office at 801-816-3850 and ask to talk with an investigator.
What types of deaths do I need to report?
You must report sudden, unexpected, violent, suspicious, or unattended deaths to our office. Call us at 801-816-3850 and ask to talk with an investigator if you’re not sure if a death falls under our jurisdiction.
How do we work together at the scene?
Who has custody of the body at the scene?
The Utah Medical Examiner Act (Utah Code 26B-8-2) states that our office has custody of the body at the scene.
Who transports the body from the scene to your office?
Our office will coordinate transporting the body from the scene to our office.
How do we work together on cases?
Whose responsibility is it to identify the body?
It is our office’s responsibility to identify the body. We identify bodies in many ways, such as through photo identification (such as from a driver’s license), from evidence found at the scene, and from physical evidence (such as fingerprints, dental records, or DNA tests.)
If your agency determines the deceased’s identity before our investigator arrives at the scene, please tell them how you identified the body (such as finding photo identification, an identification by a family member or friend, tattoos, criminal records, etc.)
If we need to do physical tests, such as fingerprints or dental records, we will work with your agency to find the quickest option for identifying the body.
Whose responsibility is it to notify the next of kin?
It is your agency’s responsibility to notify the deceased person’s next of kin. Please notify them as quickly as possible, because tissue recovery agencies may contact the family while the body is at our office to ask if the deceased can donate tissues.
Can I watch an autopsy?
You can watch autopsies for cases you are directly working on. Tell our investigators at the scene if you’d like to watch the autopsy. If you’re not at the scene, call us at 801-816-3850 as soon as possible to tell us you’d like to watch the autopsy. We will do our best to schedule the autopsy so you can attend.
What evidence do you turn over to law enforcement from an autopsy?
If you watch the autopsy, we’ll give you any evidence we find during the autopsy when you leave our office. You will need to sign a release form before taking the evidence with you.
If you’re not at the autopsy, we’ll send you a form with details about the evidence we found. Call our office at 801-816-3850 after you receive this form to schedule a time to pick up the evidence or tell us if we can dispose of it.
Do you need copies of reports from our agency?
We may request copies of your agency’s reports for our investigation. Please respond to our requests as quickly as possible.
Can I get more information about your investigation?
Can I get a copy of the report of examination?
You can order a copy of the report of examination. A report of examination has detailed information from the deceased person’s postmortem exam and death investigation. Most of this information isn’t found on the death certificate. We only give copies of this report to the deceased person’s immediate family members, police officers, attorneys, and health care providers.
Complete a record request form and bring it to our office in-person or mail it to us.
We’re open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and located at:
Utah Office of the Medical Examiner
4451 South 2700 West
Taylorsville, UT 84129
We’ll send a copy of the report to you within 3 business days of receiving your request. If the report isn’t finished when we get your request, we’ll send you a copy when it’s ready.
Can I get DNA samples from your office?
You can request the following DNA samples from our office:
- Blood spot cards
- Tissue (also called histology) blocks or slides
- Tubes of blood within 1 year of the death
- Fixed tissue within 2 years of a death that was not a homicide or within 10 years of a death that was a homicide
Email [email protected] or fax (801) 964-1240 a letter on your agency’s letterhead stationary with your request for a DNA sample. You must include specific information about how you will pick up the sample in your letter.
One of our medical examiners will review the request before giving you the sample. This normally takes a few days, but it can take up to a week.
What should I do if I’m exposed to fluids from the body?
Contact us as soon as possible at 801-816-3850. We’ll send samples from the body to the Utah Public Health Laboratory to test for Hepatitis B and HIV.
Your agency or healthcare provider must complete the Bloodborne Pathogen Exposure Testing Request Form and send it to the Utah Public Health Laboratory. The lab will test samples from the deceased’s body for Hepatitis B and HIV. The DHHS epidemiology program will contact your agency or healthcare provider with the test results.
What if a good samaritan or family member is exposed to fluids from the body at the scene?
The person should see a healthcare provider as quickly as possible. Their provider will do tests for bloodborne pathogens and give the person needed treatments.
Their healthcare provider must complete the Bloodborne Pathogen Exposure Testing Request Form and send it to the Utah Public Health Laboratory. The lab will test samples from the deceased’s body for Hepatitis B and HIV. The DHHS epidemiology program will contact their healthcare provider with the test results.