Autopsy results, including the names of the victims, have become increasingly difficult to obtain from the Luzerne County Coroner’s Office over the years, despite repeated rulings by the state that such information is public record.
County officials have repeatedly delayed or resisted providing the name, cause and manner of death of the deceased — particularly in cases involving juvenile victims — in a number of high-profile cases in recent years.
In the latest example, involving the death of a 17-year-old boy who drowned at Seven Tubs Nature Area in Plains Twp. on the evening of June 29, Coroner Dion Fernandes did not respond to an emailed request for the victim’s name, nor did anyone from the county respond to a Right-To-Know Request filed by The Citizens’ Voice within the required time period.
The county finally provided the name of Dariel Garcia Lagare on Thursday, a day after the newspaper filed an appeal with the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records — a move that fits the pattern of a long-running trend.
Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said there are “consistent problems” with access to records involving juveniles from coroners across the state.
“The law is clear,” she said. “Coroners across the commonwealth don’t follow it for various reasons, which has resulted in litigation in many counties.”
Inconsistencies exist
In 2012, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in a Cumberland County case, Hearst Television Inc. v. Norris, that “the (Right-To-Know Law) and Section 1236.1(c) of the Coroner’s Act each provide immediate access to cause and manner of death records.”
The Pennsylvania Office of Open Records advises the public that “a decedent’s name, and cause and manner of death are public records and available for immediate access under the (Right-To-Know Law).”
Despite that, access to autopsy information remains inconsistent across the state. While some coroners are reluctant to release information on certain deaths, Lehigh County Coroner Daniel A. Buglio, for instance, issues a regular news release detailing the cases his office has handled.
Melewsky said that in some instances, there is a misunderstanding about what the law requires — coroners are not aware of what they must release or the requirement that they deposit their records for public inspection at county prothonotary offices on an annual basis.
Other times, coroners might not release identifying information in an effort to protect grieving families, she said.
“They want to protect people who have already had the worst thing happen to them,” Melewsky said. “That’s understandable on a personal level. But from a legal perspective, there are very important public policy reasons that require coroners to be accountable to the public they serve.”
S. Timothy Warco, the coroner in Washington County and the president of the Pennsylvania State Coroners’ Association, acknowledged that many of his colleagues do not release the required information, mostly likely out of a misguided sense of protecting the victims’ families.
“I truly believe that,” Warco said. “You want to protect them. And I believe that some of us go a step beyond.”
Warco said he works with families and informs them about the public disclosure requirements when he prepares a media release. He advises other coroners to “follow the law,” he said.
“We can’t control what our other colleagues do,” Warco said. “They just want to protect the families from further harm, because they’re dealing with a loss of life.”
In some cases, law enforcement concerns about the integrity of the investigation have also emerged.
Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce said that in some murder cases, releasing even the fact that a victim has died can stymie law enforcement efforts.
“Once they know it’s a murder and they’re going away for life, they won’t cooperate anymore,” Sanguedolce said. “So there are times when naming a person could adversely affect our investigation.”
He said he is also especially cautious in cases involving juveniles because of court confidentiality rules.
“I very rarely name a juvenile unless the name is coming out in some public document,” Sanguedolce said. “I think it’s more cautiousness under the law and for the sake of the family than some effort thwart the public from learning information. I don’t see why the public needs to know the name of a 12-year-old who’s murdered by his mother or something like that.”
But while the Right-To-Know Law does carve out an exception to public access to records related to ongoing investigations, the Office of Open Records has ruled that investigative exemptions only apply to the agency conducting the investigation — such as a district attorney’s office — and do not automatically extend to coroners’ offices.
Evolving policy
Through the years, the county’s reasons for withholding the names of juvenile victims have evolved.
In August 2022, then-Coroner Frank Hacken identified 38-year-old Craigh Salazar as the man who fatally shot his 4-year-old son before killing himself during a custody dispute in Dallas Twp.
However, Hacken, a retired state trooper, would not release the name of the child, citing a Pennsylvania State Police policy against naming juvenile victims of crime.
The county subsequently advised that it was “policy not to release names of children who are victims of crime, per our coroner, without permission of the family when the crime is under investigation.”
The Citizens’ Voice appealed the decision to the Office of Open Records, arguing that such a policy ran afoul of the Coroner’s Act as well as the Right-To-Know Law.
Prior to the office making a final ruling in that case — and roughly two weeks after the appeal was filed — the county released the name of the victim, Grayson Salazar, on Sept. 1, 2022.
That same month, The Citizens’ Voice requested the name of another juvenile, a 12-year-old boy who drowned in Coal Creek in Plymouth on Sept. 10, 2022.
The county did not respond to the request within the required timeframe, and The Citizens’ Voice again appealed to the state.
Once again, the county released the name of the victim prior to the office ruling on the merits of the appeal, with then-acting Coroner Joseph K. Jacobs identifying Jahkil Richardson as the victim on Sept. 20, 2022.
Lengthy delays
Despite releasing the names of the deceased juveniles when confronted by appeals in those cases, county officials have only allowed the delays to lengthen while the reasons for withholding the names have expanded.
Last year, the county initially refused to provide the name of an 8-year-old girl who was accidentally shot to death by her brother in Hanover Twp. on Dec. 9 — directing The Citizens’ Voice to first identify the girl whose name was being sought.
Luzerne County Assistant Solicitor Laura Dennis-Bovani initially responded to the open records request by saying she “cannot process without a name for right to know requests.” Dennis-Bovani subsequently elaborated in a response to the Office of Open Records, asserting she was unable to fulfill the request because it was “not complete.”
“Asking an open records officer to determine the name of an individual being described, without being provided the name by the requestor, risks the open records officer providing the wrong information, information not relevant to request, and quite simply, going outside the obligations of the role of the position, and compliance with the statute by having to provide information not given,” Dennis-Bovani wrote.
The Office of Open Records rejected that argument, finding that the information was a public record and that it is the coroner’s job to correctly identify the dead.
“The county’s argument that a name must be provided is not reasonable, as the (Right-To-Know Law) itself contemplates that a coroner will provide a name upon request,” Deputy Chief Counsel Kelly C. Isenberg wrote in the decision. “It is difficult to conclude that a coroner must be provided with a name of the deceased in a RTKL request, when the coroner is responsible for determining that information in the first place.”
The coroner at that time, Jill Matthews, ultimately released the name of Aria Taylor on Jan. 22, more than six weeks after the death.
But then in March the county again refused to release the name of an infant who died in Ashley. Again, The Citizens’ Voice appealed.
In that case, Dennis-Bovani claimed the “matter is under investigation by the Luzerne County Office of the District Attorney’s Office.” She went on to say the DA’s office had “instructed the county Office of Law that nothing will be released regarding this matter.”
The Office of Open Records rejected that argument, finding that the county had failed to demonstrate that an exemption related to ongoing investigations should apply in the case. The office directed the county to disclose the name of the infant but not the cause and manner of death, which the county said remained unknown and was still under investigation.
That ruling, handed down on April 25, directed the county to provide the name within 30 days.
But after receiving that decision, Dennis-Bovani said the matter was undergoing a “further legal review” and noted that the county had the right to appeal the office’s ruling further.
Dennis-Bovani finally provided the name of Nicolas Sowell-Garcia on May 29 — two and a half months after the child’s death and 34 days after being directed to provide the information within 30 days.
SUBHED
Neither changes in leadership at the Luzerne County Coroner’s Office nor the repeated rulings that the coroner’s office is required to release the names of juvenile victims appear to have improved access to the records.
In the recent death of the 17-year-old boy at Seven Tubs, neither Fernandes or Dennis-Bovani offered any response at all to a Citizens’ Voice Right-to-Know request until after an appeal was filed Wednesday. Dennis-Bovani subsequently released Lagare’s name on Thursday.
Recently, even autopsy information related to adults appears to have become more difficult to get.
The Hazleton Standard Speaker, a sister newspaper to The Citizens’ Voice, has had to file Right-To-Know requests to get the names of people who were killed in a fire in Sugarloaf Twp. on Feb. 12; a May 25 shooting in Hazleton; and a vehicle crash that killed four in Hazle Twp. last Sunday.
Reached on Thursday, Dennis-Bovani declined to comment on the record about the issues regarding access to coroner records, deferring comment to her supervisor, Chief Solicitor Harry W. Skene.
Skene did not return a message seeking comment.
Luzerne County Manager Romilda Crocamo said she would look into the situation and ensure that the county releases the information the media is entitled to receive. She scheduled a meeting with members of The Citizens’ Voice to discuss the issue on July 30.
According to the state records office, the courts can impose a civil fine of up to $1,500 per record for denials made in bad faith. Agencies that persist in refusing to disclose a record may be fine up to $500 per day until the record is released.
Melewsky said there are important reasons why, as a matter of public policy, coroner records should be accessible to the public.
She cited the example of the nationwide opioid epidemic, which came to light in part due to coroner records and recently resulted in a $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma. She also noted that the public must be able to understand how tragedies happened to prevent similar cases from happening in the future.
Open records also promote accountability for coroners, who are elected in most Pennsylvania counties — although not in Luzerne due to its home-rule government.
“Coroners are public officials and they must be accountable to the people they serve,” Melewsky said. “There is no accountability without access.”