Decomposing bodies raise stink level at coroner's office

GENEVA – Nine bodies in advanced stages of decomposition started piling up at the Kane County Coroner's Office in Geneva from May 14 to June 9.

The excess was too much for the facility’s freezer, and once they were transferred to the refrigerator, the odor issue became readily apparent, Coroner Rob Russell said.

“To further complicate things, many of these bodies had to be autopsied,” Russell said. “When they open up these bodies, it totally amplifies the situation because where decomposition starts is inside in the intestines where the good bacteria lives. When we die, they feed off of us because there’s no more food coming into the system.”

Russell said they had as many as 14 autopsies in a week. Normally, there’s not more than three to five.

“The smells were so bad we were getting complaints from neighboring buildings,” Russell said. “There was not anything we could do.”

Russell said the nine people had died of natural causes, overdoses, alcohol and other reasons, and were not found from four days to several weeks.

“Nobody checked in a while and they lived alone,” Russell said. “It was pretty grisly with maggots and flies.”

Russell renewed his call for the county to build a new facility for the coroner’s office.

“As we go and do our business, things are going to break and fall apart,” Russell said. “There’s going to be issues until we get this rectified. We’ve put Band-Aids on it over the last two decades. We need to stop investing money into fixing this building. Let’s get something on the docket.”

Russell estimated a new facility would cost $2 million to $4 million.

Freezer trucks

Discussion of the coroner’s office’s odor issues also occurred at the Kane County Administration Committee meeting June 13.

Russell, who was on vacation, did not attend the meeting.

According to an audio recording of the meeting, County board member Bill Lenert, R-Sugar Grove, suggested looking into the cost of renting a freezer truck or an additional freezer – or sharing the cost with the DuPage County Coroner’s Office.

Lenert said maybe Russell’s office can rent freezer trucks as needed, which is what Cook County does when the Medical Examiner has an overflow of bodies to process.

“We have a lot of options and I want to be sure we explore all the options and do what’s best for the county,” Lenert said.

Don Biggs, executive director of building management for the county, said the coroner’s building is so old, the walls cannot keep out the smells.

“We were smelling stuff outside,” Biggs said. “I went in … and that is an experience I never want to do again. … I can tell you, after I experienced it for 10 minutes, I would not want to work in that building. It was disgusting.”

Biggs had been tasked with looking at the county’s other properties for possible relocation of the coroner’s office with a new building.

Biggs said Russell and Kane County Sheriff Don Kramer determined that relocating the coroner’s office to the fourth floor of the sheriff’s office was not feasible.

Biggs said it would cost millions to put in an elevator and a system to handle smells, with smells likely to result in more issues with detainees.

They also considered relocating it to the branch court where the Kane County Circuit Clerk’s office is located, but with apartment complexes so close, the risk of smells makes that area also not feasible, Biggs said.

Another option would be to move it to Animal Control because it is more isolated, but its systems would have to be upgraded at a cost of about $1 million to $1.5 million, Biggs said.

Consultant looking at options

Russell has brought in an outside firm to put together a design for a new building, Biggs said. Once that is completed, he will get a cost estimate and they will work to find a final location.

“The facility right now that he has, we’ve pretty much improved the ventilation to what it can withstand,” Biggs said. “I do not recommend putting money into that facility. It would cost us tons of money – $1 million to $1.5 million – to bring it up, and we do not have the space or the building structure to support that.”

County board member Drew Frasz, R-Elburn, suggested selling the 37 acres the county owns at the former sheriff’s office on Fabyan Parkway to pay for a new building.

“I think we have got to get going on this,” Frasz said. “Take nonproducing land on Fabyan, liquidate it and get a plan going.”

Aside from the lack of storage for bodies in the coroner’s office, Frasz asked the committee to consider where families go to identify the bodies of their loved ones.

“They are having the worst day of their life,” Frasz said. “I’m not saying we need a state-of-the-art building, but a basic building. It does not have to be fancy.”

The committee decided to recommend that officials get new appraisals of county properties, as the last time they were appraised was 2005.

Chairman Chris Lauzen said in addition to considering the recommendations from Russell’s consultant, consolidation of services with DuPage County on freezer capacity should also be on the table.

Deputy Chief Coroner Loren Carrera said a third of the county’s freezer contains homicide samples which must be maintained forever – a law all coroners and medical examiners must follow.

Lauzen said legislation or an amendment might help with regard to sharing freezer space for homicide samples.

No new building

Lauzen said later that he does not see a new coroner’s building as a solution to the problem.

“He’s been saying that for six years,” Lauzen said of Russell. “He has brought his request before the board for six years. It’s important work that needs to be done, but he has not gathered the necessary support and timing to get it done. His suggestion has always been to spend $2 million to $4 million of taxpayer money and I say ... where is the money going to come from?”

While Russell contends that the county could sell the land where the sheriff’s office was formerly located, Lauzen said the money can’t be spent in other areas.

“The more effective and efficient solution is by cooperating with other people who are doing the same thing with taxpayer money,” Lauzen said. “We have a very good working relationship [with DuPage County] in shared services.”

Russell said the issue is more than just sharing freezers with DuPage County.

“It’s now about employees in a safe environment, where we can shower and take care of proper decontamination,” Russell said. “It’s about employees being able to wash their clothes and … stop bringing stink home to their families. … It’s about treating our citizens properly.”