Beaverhead County Sheriff's Office Adapting With New Ways To Handle Loss Of Morgue Facility

When former Beaverhead County Coroner Julie Briggs resigned in February it left Beaverhead County without a coroner or a facility to do death investigations, or a vehicle to provide a dignified manner of transport for the deceased. This left the county commissioners scrambling to come up with ideas and ways to accomplish this.

The county had a suburban sitting in the parking lot that they were eyeballing that they could convert into a vehicle to use for the transport of bodies. While doing a checklist of items they would need they reached out to Beaverhead EMS to see if they had an extra gurney.

After hearing what they needed it for they said they had something better. A retired 2008 F350 ambulance to be exact. The ambulance was one of the vehicles they had used in the past and had roughly around 70,000 miles on it and would provide not only a way to transport the deceased but also had air conditioning and cooling capabilities that would help when dealing with a body.

The vehicle does need a little work as they get it fully stocked and up and running but it will also serve as a vehicle that can be used at a crime scene for officers to get out of the heat or cold as they write up reports and or process evidence.

Sheriff Paul Craft, Dillon City Officer Eric Pederson, Deputy Ceth Haggard, Deputy Ken Perterson, Corrections Officer Dan Field and the Undersheriff David Wendt