By Zach Kyle
Idaho Falls Post Register
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — Jonathan Walker is no stranger to death.
He’s investigated hundreds of death scenes in more than 30 years as a paramedic, police officer, firefighter and Bonneville County coroner.
No death is fun to deal with, but some are worse.
Murders. Suicides. Child deaths.
One girl’s death more than two decades ago stuck with Walker and guided him toward taking the coroner post years later.
He arrived on the scene with other paramedics. The girl, 16, sat on the rocks along the river, killed by a gunshot wound.
The Idaho Falls police ruled the death a suicide. They didn’t check her hands for gunshot residue. No firearm was recovered, despite divers searching the river.
Three months later, the girl’s friend told detectives the girl’s boyfriend regularly threatened to kill her. She said the boyfriend was bragging he’d finally done it.
But no autopsy was performed. Whatever clues could have been gleaned from the body were buried.
Walker never felt right about it. When the coroner’s position in Bonneville County opened 10 years ago, he saw a chance to make a difference.
“That one always bothered me,” Walker said. “I believe she was probably murdered. I believe the system failed that young girl.”
Most people’s concept of coroners stems from television shows such as “CSI: Miami” and “NCIS.”
Hollywood depicts coroners as brilliant and often creepy sleuths who spend their days in morgues gazing at stiff corpses on cold tables.
That’s not Walker, who juggles the part-time coroner job with his full-time job as a division chief at the Idaho Falls Fire Department.
Walker first was appointed coroner by the Bonneville County Republican Central Committee and won re-election twice, only running against opposition once.
Coroners in Idaho don’t perform autopsies. That task falls on a few, highly trained forensic pathologists.
Coroners authorize the autopsies.
When someone dies outside of a hospital, Walker analyzes the body at either the death scene or after the body has been taken to a funeral home.
Walker often arrives at death scenes alongside law enforcement. Their investigations are separate. He collects information. What’s the deceased’s health history? Is everything in place? Does the number of pills in the pillbox correspond with the date of the prescription?
If everything checks out, Walker doesn’t authorize an autopsy.
But if something seems off, if the death appears caused by something other than natural causes, Walker calls for an autopsy.
The procedure costs Bonneville County taxpayers about $2,000.
Before Walker was coroner, an average of four autopsies came out of Bonneville County each year.
Under Walker, the yearly average is 38.
Idaho Falls Police Chief Steve Roos said one reason for the increase in autopsies is a heightened awareness of the need for them.
Roos also said Walker brings an experienced eye to investigations from his background as a police officer, paramedic and firefighter.
“We are fortunate that Jon is the coroner here, because not all coroners seem to be able to do the things he can,” Roos said. “Anybody can be elected to that position, but he takes it seriously and we are fortunate to have someone of his caliber.”
Walker said both coroners and law enforcement officers have modernized their practices with improved knowledge and technology.
Coroners in Bingham and Fremont counties also have issued far more autopsies than their predecessors, he said.
When Walker was an Idaho Falls police officer in 1986, he wondered why the coroner rarely showed up to traumatic death scenes and accidents. When Walker became coroner, he took a more participatory approach.
“Our society has grown up,” Walker said. “It used to be OK to do things one way. When I first signed up (for coroner), I showed up to everything at first so they would get used to it. They didn’t know me or what drives me. They needed to understand I was there to support them and make sure we are all happy with all of the investigation.”
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