On Feb. 28, the attorney for a rural county in southeastern Colorado sent its coroner an odd message: Stop storing dead bodies in a county administration building. That letter, part of a string of correspondence Coroner Thomas Dunagan has since shared on his office’s Facebook page, touched off a b izarre dispute between Prowers County commissioners and the elected coroner over where the county should house deceased community members. “It has been brought to my attention that you are storing bodies of the deceased in the Prowers County annex building,” Rose F. Pugliese, a Republican state representative and the county attorney, told Dunagan in the letter. “As you are aware, the commissioners have directly informed you on many occasions that bodies cannot be stored at the annex for liability reasons.” The building, located in Lamar, does not have cameras or backup coolers in case of a power outage, Pugliese wrote. Funeral homes in the area have been willing to store bodies, “which has been the common practice in Prowers County,” she wrote. The county attorney told Dunagan that the bodies had to be removed that day, and that the coroner would be personally liable. Dunagan didn’t comply. In a reply letter on March 2, the coroner said the bodies of the deceased must remain in his care, custody and control until an autopsy is completed or the deceased is released to a funeral home. Dunagen said he must follow the evidence chain of custody, which would be disrupted if the bodies were stored at funeral homes. In any event, he said, the basement of the annex building has been the coroner’s home base since before his election, though he acknowledged that the building maintenance department also uses the cooler room for storage. “It is important to remember, I am the elected coroner, and therefore body storage is my decision alone,” he wrote. “The commissioners need to supply an alternate location that is owned by Prowers County and that I deem sufficient for body storage if they are not happy with the current storage location.” Pugliese countered that there are public health concerns around proper ventilation, odors and disease under the current arrangement. The area is not secure, she said, noting that the cooler area can be accessed by several people in the county’s human services department. “The annex is not a morgue,” the county attorney insisted in a March 10 follow-up letter. The three-story building on Lamar’s Main Street is also home to the Prowers County Department of Human Services and the county’s office helping people with long-term care options for the elderly, blind and disabled. In his reply to Pugliese, also on March 10, Dunagen dismissed the suggestion that he contract local funeral homes to store bodies, saying that “does not satisfy what is needed, because access is not limited to coroner’s office personnel.” Related Articles Colorado News | After a Loveland woman died, her landlord charged $5,000 for breaking the lease. A new bill aims to outlaw such fees. Colorado News | Denver’s first pet aquamation facility offers a gentler, more eco-friendly way to say goodbye to furry friends So the stalemate continues. Dunagan, through his attorney, declined to comment for this story. Pugliese and the county commissioners also declined interview requests from The Denver Post. Anthony Gazotti learned about the unusual setup after his nephew died and his body was stored in the annex in February. He worries what will happen if the power to the county annex goes out, and expressed concern about the security of the morgue. “It hurts,” Gazotti said in an interview. “That’s my family. They deserve better than that.” Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter. ...read more read less