Perry County coroner faces challenge from retired police officer

Perry County Coroner Jim Martin, appointed by Gov. Jay Nixon in March, wants voters to reward him with a full, four-year term Nov. 8.

William "Bill" BohnertSubmitted photo

He faces a challenge from former Cape Girardeau police officer William “Bill” Bohnert.

Unlike many coroners in Southeast Missouri, neither candidate works for a funeral home.

Martin, a Democrat, was appointed to replace longtime coroner Herbert Miller, who resigned last year after being convicted of financial exploitation of an elderly or disabled person and theft of more than $80,000. Miller owned a funeral home while serving as coroner.

Martin said when he took over as coroner, he had to find office space and equipment.

“We had nothing to start with,” he recalled, explaining the coroner equipment belonged to the funeral home.

Everything from office space to an ambulance were donated to get the coroner’s office up and running this spring. Other counties provided a gurney and a two-body cooler at minimal costs, Martin said.

His Republican challenger is campaigning on a law-enforcement background.

“I think I am the best-qualified candidate for the job,” said Bohnert, who retired from the Cape Girardeau Police Department in 2013 after a 30-year career.

Bohnert said he served on the major-case squad for Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties for 16 years, investigating homicides and suspicious deaths.

The job of coroner, he said, is largely an investigative position. Coroners don’t perform autopsies. Those are done by forensic pathologists or medical examiners.

Bohnert said it is important for a coroner to have a solid background in death investigations and experience in preserving evidence.

“The current coroner doesn’t have any training at all,” he said.

But Martin said he has established the necessary relationships with local law enforcement, community officials, fellow coroners, medical examiners and pathologists to aid him in his duties.

“We have built a tremendous relationship,” he said.

A retired educator, Martin said he has investigated deaths of people with disabilities as an outreach advocate with Missouri Protection & Advocacy Services.

He said his office has increasingly turned to private labs to obtain toxicology reports, avoiding the testing backlog associated with Missouri State Highway Patrol labs.

Bohnert said he has no plans to be affiliated with any funeral home, avoiding what he sees as “almost a conflict of interest” for those who serve as coroner and funeral home operator.

Bohnert, who works part-time for a private investigation firm, said, if elected, he would not work on any cases that would conflict with his duties as coroner.

He added he would bring “professionalism” to the office of coroner.

Martin, since becoming coroner, has worked with other agencies, including the Community Counseling Center, to tackle what he sees as “an epidemic of suicides and drug-related deaths afflicting us as a county.” He has delivered presentations to high-school students and championed efforts to provide mental-health counseling for students in the Perry County public schools.

Since becoming coroner, Martin said he has handled four suicides and five substance-abuse-related deaths.

“It is a growing epidemic,” he said.

Bohnert disagrees.

“I don’t think Perry County has any worse suicide problem or drug problem than any other county,” he said.

The coroner’s sole responsibility is to investigate deaths, Bohnert said.

While seeking a full term as coroner, Martin said he believes Perry County and other rural counties in the state would best be served by eliminating the voter-approved coroner positions and replacing them with regional medical examiners.

Missouri’s urban areas have medical examiners. The state should allow rural areas to benefit from similar services, he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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