Background of The Coroner in Orange County

When the County of Orange was founded in 1889, I.D. Mills became the County's first Coroner/Public Administrator. The partnership between these two branches of government existed until 1965 when a county ordinance separated the Coroner and Public Administrator functions. Five years later in 1970, the Coroner's Office underwent further changes when the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted to co-join the Office of Coroner and the Office of Sheriff, making it the 31st Sheriff-Coroner Department in California on January 4, 1971. Today, the vast majority of the 58 counties in the state are Sheriff-Coroner systems.

A Timeline of the Coroner in Orange County

August 1st, County of Orange founded.

July 7th, I.D. Mills is elected the first Coroner/Public Administrator

Population: 13,689

 
January 1st, Frank Ely begins his term as Coroner/Public Administrator

August 28th, Earl Abbey is elected Coroner/Public Administrator.

 (Left to right) Chief Deputy, Frank G. Hanson; Autopsy Surgeon, Raymond A. Brandt, M. D.; Coroner, Earl R. Abbey;

 Secretary, Gladys Cheleen; Deputy, Roger S. Burnham; Deputy, Walter L. Fox

Raymond A. Brandt, M.D. is elected Coroner/Public Administrator.

Orange County Coroner Facility circa 1960

Board of Supervisors vote to separate the offices of Public Administrator and Coroner.

 
Raymond A. Brandt, M.D. becomes Coroner of Orange County.

Coroner Brandt seeks a centralized morgue.

"Recent grand jury panels have consistently cited a need for the central morgue but none went into the details as thoroughly as the 1965 panel headed by James Holm  of Fullerton. It termed the system of traveling to the mortuaries "archaic, costly and inefficient." It urged creation of the central morgue, claiming it would save $622,709 over five years."

No centralized morgue facility exists. Autopsy examinations are performed at various local mortuaries with the exception of homicides which are conducted at the Orange County Medical Center (now University of California at Irvine Medical Center). Coroner investigators and support staff are housed on Civic Center Drive, in Santa Ana.

January 4th, Office of Sheriff and Coroner co-joined to create Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Department, making it the 31st county in the state to use the Sheriff-Coroner system.

Sheriff James A. Musick (elected in 1947) becomes the County's first Sheriff-Coroner.

Orange County Coroner's Investigators are, front row, left, Jim Bricker, Bill Minick, Chief Deputy Eugene Miller and Jack Cale; back row, left Ron Stanzak, Russ Greene, John Gill, Joe Stevens and Senior Investigator Jim Beisner. Beisner would later become the Chief Deputy Coroner.

The Daily Pilot interviews Coroner Investigators Bill Minick and Jim Beisner.

The Coroner Division staff moves to the Headquarters Building at 550 N. Flower, Santa Ana. Autopsy examinations continue to be conducted at various mortuaries throughout the county.

Brad Gates is elected Sheriff-Coroner.

April 26th, based on recommendations by Sheriff Gates, the Board of Supervisors approves the construction of a central morgue and forensic laboratory facility west of the county jail in Santa Ana.

James D. Beisner is appointed Chief Deputy
Coroner in charge of the Coroner Division.

Construction is completed at 1071 W. Santa Ana Blvd., Santa Ana .

September 1st, the Orange County Forensic Science Center opens for business. The 9,953 square foot state-of-the-art facility contains a centralized morgue and toxicology lab.

The Orange County Register spotlights the Forensic Science Center's Forensic Pathologists.

Larry Ragle, left, County Director of Forensic Science, Jim Beisner, center, Chief Deputy Coroner, and Dr. Walter Fischer, seek the sometimes elusive cause of death to aid police in their work.

Coroner Division Management Staff; James Beisner, Barbara Mitchell, Richard Rodriguez and Bill Lystrup

First Death Investigation Course designed specifically for deputy coroner investigative personnel is sponsored by the Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Department.

November 1st, one of the country's first DNA labs is housed inside the Forensic Science Center building.

The Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training certifies the Coroner Basic Death Investigation Course.

County ordinance #3857 is approved by the Board of Supervisors which states that deputy coroners must adhere to standards for selection and training as established by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.)

August 22nd, the Sheriff's toxicology and DNA laboratories is relocated to the newly built Hutton Towers (now the Brad Gates Building).

The Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training certifies that the Orange County Coroner Division adheres to the standard for the selection and training of peace officers.

December 4th, after 37 years of distinguished service with the County of Orange, Chief Deputy Coroner Jim Beisner retires.

December 5th, Jacque Berndt becomes the new Chief Deputy Coroner.

Sheriff Brad Gates retires after serving the citizens of Orange County for 37 years. The final 24 years of his eminent service are spent as the elected Sheriff of Orange County.

January 4th, newly elected Sheriff-Coroner Michael S. Carona is sworn in.

The Coroner Basic Death Investigation Course celebrates its 10 year anniversary. Approximately 920 Deputy Coroners from throughout the state, the nation and as far away as the British Virgin Islands have been trained.

Orange County receives $10,000,000 from the State of California to build the Statewide Coroner Training Facility. The County of Orange contributes $5,000,000 to the design of this $15,000,000 state-of-the-art facility.

November, floor plan design of the new 52,000 square foot facility begins.

May 4th, Coroner operations is relocated to a temporary location during construction of the Statewide Training Center.

April, construction of Statewide Coroner Training Facility is well underway.

March 17, Coroner Division moves into newly built California Coroner Training Center.

May 3, first official statewide training class is held.

August 6, Richard L. Rodriguez is selected as Chief Training Officer.

June 10, Sandra Hutchens is appointed Sheriff-Coroner by the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

Since the California Coroner Training Center opened its doors in 2004, 1,177 death investigation professionals from virtually every county in the state and parts of Nevada and Arizona have received first rate training from the Training Center’s cadre of elite instructors and subject matter experts.

Population: 3,010,232 Total county deaths: 17,704 Deaths investigated by Coroner: 9,121

June 8, Sheriff Hutchens is decisively elected by the people of Orange County.

March 31, Chief Deputy Coroner Jacque J. Berndt retires after almost 30 years of service with the County of Orange.