AUSTIN (KXAN) – “Should the decision to call for an investigation in the cause of an unnatural death be placed in the hands of a public official or in those of a person who is trained in the medical profession?”
In 1963, the Odessa American published that “hotly disputed” question in Texas about whether a justice of the peace should have authority to determine the causes of “unnatural” or “questionable” deaths. Most of Texas’ 254 counties still use the elected role in death inquests instead of medical examiners – which exist in only 14 counties.
But recent reporting and academic studies related to justices of the peace and unnoticed murders and suicides, flawed COVID-19 death findings, unidentified migrant remains, nursing home foul play and oversights with state death data suggest the newspaper’s decades-old question lingers today.
KXAN’s reporting into this issue began with a cause of death determination by a Burnet County justice of the peace in 1965 and led to a statewide investigation into a system that has existed in Texas for 200 years.
Over nearly a year of research, our team faced challenges obtaining death records and tracking cause of death data to analyze potentially-concerning trends.
Explore KXAN’s project about Texas’ unique system for investigating deaths, and how it played into the questions that persist about the 1965 strangulation of a young girl.