The Erie County Coroner’s Office sees hundreds of dead bodies in a year, all of which need a cause of death determination.
Last year, coroner Lyell Cook said they recorded nearly 700 deaths, down from around 950 in 2024, and certain trends have stood out.
“The most notable change has been the drug deaths, which have gone down considerably. The natural deaths are down a bit, just across the board, but we know from many years of doing this that the numbers go up and down. It’s a bell curve. Some years we’re really busy and some years we’re not.” said Lyell Cook, Erie County Coroner.
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Of those 700 deaths, Cook said around 460 were natural, 170 were accidental and 11 were undetermined – compared to 682 natural deaths, 222 accidental and ten undetermined deaths in 2024…