Why do we care about the Coroner’s Office?

Until we happened to meet Dr. Annette Cannon, our Jefferson County Coroner, we had no idea just how fortunate we are to have her and the rest of her rock-star team serving our community. Dr. Cannon and her staff are on call 24/7, 365 days a year, and their office is the one of the busiest Coroner’s Offices in Colorado. Since taking office in 2018, she has managed a full-time staff of 20 (consisting of a chief deputy, 10 full time deputy investigators, two admin coordinators, two forensic autopsy techs, two contracted board certified forensic pathologists and a few temporary positions), who together have implemented a multitude of new policies, procedures, training programs and certifications to strengthen the professionalism, compassion and efficiency of the work they do for us. Before COVID, the Coroner’s Office dealt with 4598 cases a year. In the last 2 years they have dealt with 5638 +, an increase of over 22%, all with the same number of 20 dedicated people, and a budget cut by almost $100,000 since 2020.

While the majority of the increase was due to COVID and population increase of over 10,000 people, there also have been increases in fatal traffic accidents, mass shootings, wildfire-related deaths, opioid overdoses and suicides. These unseen heroes have dealt with all of this, providing compassion and empathy to families and friends in need in our community, at great sacrifice for themselves, and their own families and friends.

If you see Dr. Cannon, or any one of her staff members, be sure to thank them for doing this important, public-service work.  We are so lucky to have them all in JeffCo!

Brian and Diane Conaway,

Indian Hills