The St. Landry Parish Coroner is an elected parish physician whose office investigates certain deaths, issues cremation permits, authorizes emergency psychiatric holds, arranges burial of unclaimed remains, and releases a defined set of records to families and the public. The office has jurisdiction across every incorporated and unincorporated part of the parish, and a coroner or deputy is on call at all hours for death investigations and mental health emergencies.
Louisiana’s constitution requires every parish to elect a coroner to a four-year term, and the officeholder must be licensed to practice medicine in the state unless no willing physician in the parish is available.1Louisiana State Senate. Louisiana Constitution Article V – Judicial Branch That medical qualification is the reason the office handles so much more than death scenes.
When the Coroner Must Investigate a Death
Not every death in St. Landry Parish involves the coroner. State law requires the coroner to view the body or investigate the cause and manner of death only when the circumstances fall into specific categories:2Justia Law. Louisiana Code RS 13-5713 – Duties; Autopsies and Investigations
- Violent or traumatic deaths, including homicides, suicides, drownings, gunshot wounds, burns, electrocution, and strangulation.
- Sudden or unexpected deaths, deaths from unknown or obscure causes, and bodies found dead.
- Deaths following an injury or accident, whether the injury was recent or old.
- Any death in prison or while serving a sentence.
- Deaths from virulent contagious diseases that could pose a public hazard.
- Deaths from natural causes where the patient had been admitted to a hospital fewer than 24 hours earlier.
The coroner may order an autopsy in any case but must order one when there is a reasonable probability that a criminal violation contributed to the death.3Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 13-5713 – Duties; Autopsies and Investigations Once the investigation is complete, the coroner issues a death certificate stating the cause and manner of death, and that determination stands as the legally accepted cause unless a parish court orders otherwise after a hearing.2Justia Law. Louisiana Code RS 13-5713 – Duties; Autopsies and Investigations
Cremation Permits
No cremation can take place in Louisiana until the coroner issues a cremation permit, and the funeral director separately needs a signed authorization from the legal next of kin. State law sets no mandatory waiting period, so timing depends on how quickly the office completes its review.
Fees for cremation permits have been unsettled statewide. Before June 2023, parish coroners typically charged families or funeral homes between $50 and $125. A Louisiana Attorney General opinion that month concluded that the statute appears to cap the fee at $50 and that parish governments, not families or funeral homes, are the ones responsible for paying it.4Louisiana Illuminator. Cremation Fees Come to Abrupt Halt as Louisiana Coroners Debate Law How individual parishes have adjusted their billing since then varies, so confirm any current cost directly with the St. Landry Parish office before you plan around it.
Getting Emergency Mental Health Help
Louisiana coroners are a frontline authority for psychiatric emergencies, and in St. Landry Parish families often reach the office looking for help with a loved one in crisis who has no existing psychiatrist. Two separate legal tools are involved, and they are easy to confuse.
Order of Protective Custody
Under state law, a parish coroner or judge can issue an Order of Protective Custody when a credible person signs a statement that someone appears to have a mental illness or substance use disorder and needs immediate treatment to prevent physical harm.5FindLaw. Louisiana Code RS 28-53.2 – Protective Custody; Order The order directs law enforcement to transport the person to a treatment facility or the coroner’s office for an immediate examination.
The order is valid for 72 hours from signing. Once a person is taken into custody, they must be delivered to a facility or the coroner within 12 hours or released, and no one can be held in protective custody for more than 72 hours total.7FindLaw. Louisiana Code RS 28-53.2 – Protective Custody; Order
Emergency Certificate
If an examination confirms that inpatient treatment is needed, a physician executes an emergency certificate, which authorizes a facility to admit and detain the person for observation, diagnosis, and treatment for up to 15 days.6Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 28-53 – Admission by Emergency Certificate A second 15-day period is available for someone with a substance use disorder if a second certificate is executed.
The coroner has an independent gatekeeping role. A facility that admits someone on an emergency certificate must immediately notify the parish coroner, who then independently examines the patient within 72 hours of admission. If the coroner executes the first emergency certificate, a different physician must execute any second one.8Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 28-53 – Admission by Emergency Certificate
If a family cannot afford a private physician or cannot find one quickly, a credible adult can ask the coroner to examine the individual directly or to arrange for a physician to do so.8Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 28-53 – Admission by Emergency Certificate That is the practical entry point most families use.
Unclaimed Remains and Indigent Burials
When no one claims a body or the deceased has no resources for burial, the coroner arranges for disposition through a Louisiana-licensed funeral home, with costs capped at the actual expense of the service.9Justia Law. Louisiana Code RS 13-5715 – Delivery of Body; Disposition of Paupers; Anatomical Gifts
Who foots the bill depends on where the person lived. If the deceased was a Louisiana resident, the parish or municipality where they were domiciled pays. If they lived out of state, the parish where the death occurred pays and the local coroner assumes jurisdiction. For patients or residents of state-operated health care or treatment facilities, the state covers the cost.9Justia Law. Louisiana Code RS 13-5715 – Delivery of Body; Disposition of Paupers; Anatomical Gifts The state and individual coroners can set a maximum amount paid per case.
Requesting Records From the Coroner’s Office
What the office can give you depends on the type of record. Louisiana law draws a sharp line between the summary coroner’s report and the detailed materials behind it.
What Is Public
The coroner’s report, which is a summary document, is a public record. The office must release it to news media, to any member of the public who asks, and to family members including spouses, parents, siblings, children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, aunts, and uncles.10FindLaw. Louisiana Code RS 44-19 – Coroner Records Autopsy reports used in the investigation of criminal activity, and reports for any death that happened while the person was in law enforcement or corrections custody, are also public records.
What Is Confidential
The detailed death investigation report, the full autopsy report, medical records of the deceased held by the coroner, and all autopsy photographs or video are confidential and not public records.10FindLaw. Louisiana Code RS 44-19 – Coroner Records A court of competent jurisdiction can order their release, but without a court order the office cannot provide them to the general public. The death investigation report is specifically classified as the coroner’s internal work product.
How to Make a Request
To request any available record, provide the decedent’s full legal name and date of death. For anything beyond the public coroner’s report, expect to show government-issued ID and documentation proving your relationship to the deceased. Louisiana recognizes a priority order for next of kin: surviving spouse and children first, then parents, then siblings, then grandparents.
Insurance companies and attorneys can obtain records but face additional requirements. Based on practices at other Louisiana parish coroner offices, third-party requesters complete a formal request form, provide photo identification, and pay a fee.11Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office. Frequently Asked Questions Law enforcement generally receives copies at no charge, and immediate next of kin or the person responsible for final disposition can often get one copy of a completed autopsy report at no cost when it is available for release.
Plan for the timeline. Simple records may arrive within a few weeks, but final autopsy reports in Louisiana commonly take 90 to 180 days because they depend on toxicology and other specialized lab testing.12Natchitoches Parish Coroner. Autopsy An ongoing criminal investigation can add further delay.
Statutory Fees for Coroner Services
State law sets the fees a coroner can charge for official duties in parishes that operate on a fee basis:13Justia Law. Louisiana Code RS 13-5706 – Fees for Coroner’s Services
- Investigation, including paperwork and reports: $50 per case.
- Viewing a body: $50.
- Autopsy: $250 to $300 at the parish governing authority’s discretion, plus the actual cost of lab tests.
- Court testimony: $75 per day per case.
- Mental health commitment paperwork: $50 per case.
These are the fees the coroner receives for performing official duties, not necessarily what a family pays out of pocket for a copy of a document. Autopsy charges above $250, and any fees above the maximums in the coroner’s annual fee schedule, require approval by the parish governing authority. That schedule is filed with the parish by the end of January each year.13Justia Law. Louisiana Code RS 13-5706 – Fees for Coroner’s Services
Reaching the Office
The St. Landry Parish Coroner’s Office handles administrative inquiries, records requests, and emergencies. Because the office has had leadership changes in recent years, phone numbers and addresses published online sometimes conflict. The most reliable approach is to call the St. Landry Parish government main line or check the parish’s official website for the current number and the office location in Opelousas or Eunice. Business hours apply during the week, and a coroner or deputy is on call around the clock for death investigations and psychiatric emergencies.