When someone dies in Washington
In every county, a coroner or a medical examiner looks into deaths that are sudden or unexpected. Cleanup waits until that office, and the police if they came, are done. The county pages name each office and link to it.
State law has each county elect a coroner. A county with fewer than 40,000 people may appoint one instead, and a county with 250,000 or more may use a medical examiner (RCW 36.16.030 (opens in a new tab)). Since January 1, 2025, a county prosecutor no longer serves as coroner.
Some counties share the office with a neighbor. Asotin County’s coroner serves Garfield County, Cowlitz County’s coroner serves Wahkiakum County, and Spokane County’s medical examiner serves Pend Oreille County.
Getting help
A private company you hire does the cleanup. We connect you with one near you, and you get the price from them before work starts.
In many counties, we are still adding local companies. Leave your number anyway, and we'll pass your request to a local cleanup company.