In tennessee, only 5 out of 95 counties have a board-certified forensic pathologist serving as the county medical examiner (CME)

The Bureau of Justice Assistance awarded Rutherford County, Tennessee $428,107 on May 1, 2026, under the Paul Coverdell Forensic Sciences Improvement Grant Program (CFDA 16.742) to improve medical examiner services and death investigation capabilities in the county.

Rutherford County will use the funding to purchase a portable X-ray system and hire a medicolegal death investigator experienced in postmortem radiology procedures and ready for certification to achieve 24/7 coverage by certified medicolegal death investigators in the Rutherford County Medical Examiners Office. The project addresses a capacity gap in which only 5 of Tennessee's 95 counties have board-certified forensic pathologists serving as county medical examiners; the remaining counties, including Rutherford, rely on county medical examiners who are licensed physicians with minimal death investigation training and limited equipment and resources. The county intends the project to serve as a model for other Tennessee counties seeking to improve medical examiner services and to provide uniform death investigations and forensic evidence analysis with timely support to law enforcement partners at death scenes.

The period of performance runs from May 1, 2026, through April 30, 2029. Performance and administrative oversight take place in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

The remaining 90 counties, includingrutherford county, have a CME who is a licensed physician with little to no training in death investigation, and has limited, if any, equipment and resources. Most counties in tennessee, if they have medical examiner investigators (MEIS), utilize their EMS personnel. However, a competent death investigation requires specialized knowledge and an understanding of the death scene and potential evidence. Without proper training and necessary tools for medicolegal death investigation, an MEI may inadvertently contaminate, damage or lose irreplaceable evidence. On violent and/or trauma-related death scenes, law enforcement has limited knowledge of potential injuries and foreign objects within the decedents remains until after the autopsy is performed, limiting the scene processing at the time of discovery. IT is the intent of the rutherford county medical examiners office (RCMEO) to use the FY25 coverdell grant to improve the quality and timeliness of its medical examiner services, provide uniform death investigation, and increase the timeliness of forensic evidence analysis. This will be accomplished by purchasing a portable X-RAY system and hiring a medicolegal death investigator (MDI) experienced in postmortem radiology procedures, and ready for certification (if not already accredited), to achieve 24/7 coverage by certified mdis in the RCMEO division of rcems. This project will ensure uniform death investigations and valuable support to law enforcement partners while they are still on scene. If successful in being awarded funding, IT is the intent of the RCMEO to be an exemplar upon which other tennessee counties can model and to have a positive impact, not only on this countys medical examiner services, but throughout the state.