Safe, secure and private: La Salle County Coroner’s Office finds new home in Oglesby

La Salle County Coroner Rich Ploch still can recall when a bereaved family had driven from Tennessee with someone who used a wheelchair. In their old facility, Ploch and his staff had trouble even getting them in the door.

Now, Ploch and the staff at the La Salle County Coroner’s Office are no longer wedged into a stuffy, two-room office at the county complex in Ottawa, and they no longer have to scramble for private meeting space with grieving families.

The coroner and staff now operate from a handicapped-accessible building in Oglesby. One of the amenities is a conference table with a kitchenette.

Ploch said he can offer water and coffee for those grappling with the news that he still dreads having to break.

“They were here for over two hours,” Ploch said, recalling the Tennessee family. “And we really were never able to do that, we always had to hurry up because there just wasn’t room for those kinds of situations.

“This conference area has turned into a very important piece of what we’re trying to do here.”

Although La Salle County still doesn’t have a morgue, per se, Ploch said he hopes that by next spring he will have a containment unit for up to four decedents. In the meantime, the convenience and comfort now available to grieving families is only one of the advantages at the new La Salle County Forensic Center that opened earlier this year.

The center also affords Ploch some technical upgrades, many of which are required by law.

The Oglesby building includes a forensic room equipped with a camera to process and inventory personal belongings recovered during death investigations, such as wallets and purses.

Oglesby Police Chief Mike Margis toured the new facility and was impressed with the open space now available to Ploch’s team and to visiting officers. Death cases are an unfortunate fact of life in law enforcement, and Margis said he is glad to have the large, secure setting for all-hands investigations.

“It will be extremely beneficial to have an office where police investigators and the coroner’s office can meet and work on any sudden or suspicious deaths together,” Margis said.

The forensic room also includes a stainless steel table for processing evidence, which Ploch said is a major upgrade.

“We [previously] had to use the same countertop we were eating lunch on, unfortunately,” he said.

The new facility now also has sinks and refrigeration units for biohazards and must-keep specimens.

“By state statute, when we do an autopsy, we are required to retain a small biopsy of the tissue and some blood vials,” Ploch said. “They have to be kept for a minimum 10 years; homicide and undetermined evidence has to be kept forever.”

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La Salle County Corner Rich Ploch, stands outside the La Salle County Forensic Center on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023 in Oglesby. The center is located at 520 W. Walnut St., Oglesby. (Scott Anderson)

Ploch and his predecessors had lobbied years for a morgue, as space has been a glaring need for at least 20 years. While county officials debated, lawmakers in Springfield kept imposing unfunded mandates on death investigators.

The Oglesby building now enables Ploch to comply with the growing regulatory burdens. The new facility has plenty of storage space. It won’t require trips into the caged storage area beneath the La Salle County Jail, and it has office space and workstations that allow a better workflow.

All of this also is conducted under 24-hour surveillance. Ploch said he and county officials readily agreed to install security cameras and monitors to prevent unauthorized entry and to keep sensitive materials from being compromised.

There’s also worker safety, as the state has required coroners to retrieve and store drugs – legal or otherwise – during the course of a death investigation.

Some controlled substances are dangerous to handle, so the La Salle County facility now includes a ventilated, hooded sorting area that enables Ploch and his team to handle and secure high-risk substances in a controlled setting.

Ploch hopes to one day convert the building into a fully equipped morgue, including space to perform autopsies. The Oglesby property includes room for an annex building to be built later.

But for everyone concerned, the priority was the next of kin. Families are at their most vulnerable when a loved one is suddenly lost, and Margis, for one, said he is pleased the county made accommodations for the bereaved.

“The new space offers a more private environment where families can meet with the coroner to speak about the death of a family member,” Margis said. “I would think the last thing a family member would want to do is enter a government complex during the hard time of losing someone close to them.”