Government
BY ANNA MANESS
County hires 4 death investigators
The backstory
Up until now, the county’s four justices have been responsible for conducting death inquests through one-week shifts, since Williamson County doesn’t have a medical examiner’s office, Williams said. For three weeks out of the month, justices would have a full court docket, but starting Thursday at 5 p.m., they would be on-call 24/7 for death inquiries countywide until the following Thursday, Williams said. Justices could receive between 25-30 inquests while on call, she said.
Historically, justices of the peace have been in charge of responding to death inquests, Williams said. Williamson County commissioners approved funding for the new positions as part of the fiscal year 2024-25 general budget. “I’m so proud of this particular piece of our budget, and in fact, it may be the most important thing I’ve been a part of since I’ve been county judge,” Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell said at an Aug. 27 county commissioners meeting. Each of the county’s four justices will be assigned one DII, Williams said. They will work alongside investigators to ensure ample evidence exists to confirm the manner and cause of death, she said.
Four death inquest investigators have started working for Williamson County, a need elected officials have been voicing for a decade. The new positions—two DIIs and two senior DIIs—will help the justice courts oversee unattended deaths in the county, or deaths requiring an investigation to determine the cause, manner and time of death. The employees’ first day was Jan. 10, a county official said. Angela Williams, Justice of the Peace Precinct 2 judge, said the investigators are coming from other medical examiner’s offices in Texas. “We are getting some highly skilled and extremely qualified death investigators,” Williams said in an interview with Community Impact .
Unattended deaths can look like a person dying:
• In prison • By suicide • An unnatural death, such as drowning or in an automobile accident • While under the care of a physician who only verifies death certificates for natural deaths • From unknown circumstances
SOURCE: WILLIAMSON COUNTY/COMMUNITY IMPACT
WilCo death cases worked by justices of the peace, 2014-2023
1,200
Looking ahead
+121.91%
900
972 1,023
While the commissioners court is considering locating the county’s future medical examiner’s office at the newly- purchased Lake Creek Annex building in Austin, no final decisions on the annex have been made, a county official said. Gravell voiced a need for death inquest investigators back in 2015, when he himself was a justice of the peace for Precinct 3, according to previous Community Impact reporting.
847
762
600
577 620
521
506 517
461
300
0
2014 2015 2016
2017
2018 2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
SOURCE: WILLIAMSON COUNTY/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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