As a director at Jackson’s lone funeral home, Krista Nethercott has a closer view of the coroner’s office than most.
She says it’s in need of some changes: the coroner needs to be more personable with families. The morgue ought to be combined with the funeral home. And deputies should be more empowered.
With two days to go before the deadline to file as a political candidate, the most crowded county race is for the official handler of the dead. The last time the race was contested was in 2014.
Nethercott is challenging two such deputies, Russell Nelson and Dave Hodges, for the elected position. Hodges and Nelson both have years of working with current coroner Dr. Brent Blue, who won’t run again.
She asked them both if they’d be upset if she ran.
“Just because we work together — I don’t want it to be weird or awkward,” she said.
They assured her to go for it. Krista’s cousin-in-law, Tara Nethercott, is the Wyoming Senate majority leader. But she hasn’t asked for much campaign advice yet:
“The only thing I asked Tara was, where did you get your yard signs?”
Not every state has politically elected coroners. Many larger areas have the more professionalized medical examiner. Teton County’s coroner’s office investigates about 40 sudden or unattended deaths each year from suicides, homicides and car crashes to hikers or campers who die in the field.
After county commissioners approved raises for elected positions, next year’s inaugurated coroner will make $72,500, a 45% bump from $50,000 and match what commissioners are paid.
Nethercott will face Nelson in the Republican primary in August; the winner will likely face Hodges, the lone Democrat, in November.
“Obviously, we all want to be winners, but there has to be a loser,” Hodges said. “I just think Teton County is very fortunate to have such qualified candidates.”
Hodges described his opponents as peers, coworkers and friends.
He served almost thirty years with the Teton County Sheriff’s office and became deputy coroner in 2008. One of the original Teton County Search and Rescue volunteers, Hodges tried for the coroner job in 2014, losing to Blue in the Democratic primary.
“It’s not meant for everybody,” he said of the unglamorous yet essential position. “But obviously I’ve been with the coroner’s office almost 18 years, and I think it well equips me and prepares me for the next role.”
While Nethercott sees her primary strength as connecting with families, Hodges says he loves the investigative part of the job.
“My passion really is the field,” he said, where evidence and interviews help determine the cause and manner of death.
Russell Nelson, longtime deputy coroner, is also running for the top post. (Evan Robinson-Johnson/KHOL)
Nelson, the other Republican and deputy coroner, was the first to declare his run.
The self-professed “bone guy” brings a forensic anthropology background, a similar tenure of working alongside Blue, and generations of family ties to the valley. That means he knows many of the people he serves.
“It’s a service job. You owe a true investigation to the dead, but also to the living,” he previously told KHOL.
This article has been updated to correct Krista Nethercott’s relation to her cousin-in-law, Tara Nethercott. — Ed.
