Garland County Coroner's Office

Garland County Courthouse

501 Ouachita Ave, Suite #407
Hot Springs, AR 71901 

 
Office - (501) 622-3638       Fax - (501) 622-3639

Emergency Notification - (501) 624-4213

Coroner - Stuart Smedley
coroner@garlandcounty.org
 

Purpose:

    Death investigation is the process of determining the cause and manner of death.  This Process exists primarily to protect the general public's health, safety, and welfare by providing a safety net that exposes certain practices as unhealthy, certain behaviors as unsafe, and certain substances as dangerous.

Natural deaths:

• Identify contagious diseases

• Identify congenital & familial disorders which present with sudden death

• Provide valid health statistics

 Accidental deaths:

• Identify casual agents (alcohol, unsafe road)

• Product safety (faulty appliances, impure food)

• Identify accidents vs similar appearing deaths

• Provide valid health statistics

Suicide deaths:

• Identify suicides vs similar appearing deaths

• Warn of suicide "epidemics"

• Identify common suicide modalities

• Provide valid health statistics

Homicide deaths:

• Identify assailants by identifying homicide vs similar appearing deaths

• Collect evidence

• Identify commonly used weapons