Whatcom County looks for new medical examiner after investigation into body storage

Whatcom County executive Satpal Sidhu has terminated the medical examiner’s contract following the receipt of a report  by an outside attorney that found deficient practices in how the medical examiner’s office handled remains.

Medical examiner services had been contracted with Dr. Allison Hunt of Hunt Forensics.

The Whatcom County Executive’s Office released the 24-page investigation report from Bellingham-based Bundy Law Firm on August 5. Kris Bundy, the attorney leading the investigation, found the incident to be an isolated event. The report can be viewed online at bit.ly/46AFf51.

“The report does not provide certainty to the exact facts of this situation, and such certainty may not be attainable. However, the report shows that the Medical Examiner’s Office had gaps in protocols which could have mitigated risks of operations while they were in a temporary, rented morgue facility (Moles Farewell Tributes & Crematory) during the county’s morgue renovation,” according to the county news release.

The county’s investigation did not uncover any evidence that Moles was at fault in this incident.

Sidhu has asked staff to search for a new medical examiner.

Last spring, two bodies were found severely decomposed after being kept in an uncooled garage at Moles Farewell Tributes and Crematory Center during the hot weekend of May 10, a violation of state law that initiated investigations from Whatcom County and the Washington State Department of Licensing, according to previous reporting from The Northern Light.

While undergoing construction, the medical examiner’s office had been renting an area for a morgue and autopsies at Moles’ Bayview Chapel in Bellingham, with additional refrigeration space in Ferndale. The funeral home discovered no one had picked up the bodies after staff returned to work that Monday.

Company president John Moles had previously stated the funeral home was not at fault for the improper storage because it was only operating as a landlord and could not move the deceased without a formal request from the medical examiner’s office. Moles ended its contract with the office shortly after.

In his summary report, Bundy found the medical examiner’s office knew the bodies had decomposed by being improperly stored and that the office failed to notify two funeral homes that picked up the bodies of their condition. Failure to inform the funeral homes, Bundy found, put responsibility on those companies to investigate how the bodies decomposed in order to protect their businesses’ reputations and explain to families why the bodies were in poor condition.

Further, Bundy concluded that Deborah Hollis, chief investigator and operations manager at the medical examiner’s office, was not a credible witness and had failed to take appropriate steps to ensure that the two bodies in question were properly stored.

The investigation also noted “significant, ongoing disagreements and conflicts in Whatcom County between the current medical examiner and her office, and law enforcement, members of county government, and people working in the funeral business in Whatcom County,” but Bundy added that those issues were outside of the scope he was asked to investigate.

Since the executive’s office received the report, discussions between its office and the medical examiner’s office “highlighted a difference in perspectives on the findings of the report and potential corrective actions,” according to the news release from the executive’s office.

Sidhu thanked Hunt for her service, having taken the position during the pandemic, when there was a high number of overdoses and homicides, and preparing the medical examiner’s office to become a county-run office. 

Nolan Baker contributed to the reporting of this article.