Bibb coroner reflects on busy year

On the wall of Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones' office is a simple sign on plain white paper.

In bold black letters it reads "Think positive, be positive, stay positive."

That might seem like a tough task for a man whose job it is to deal with death daily, including many that are often tragic, senseless or gruesome.

But Jones points out words in smaller letters on the sign: "Pray and you will be all right."

"I start my day with prayer every morning," said Jones, who has worked in the coroner's office for 25 years, first as a part-time deputy coroner before his first election in 2004.

Jones, who also worked as a full-time paramedic before he was elected coroner, estimates he has seen more than 10,000 dead bodies in his lifetime.

But this year is one he won't soon forget. It has included 27 homicides, compared to 16 the previous year.

"This has been one of the busiest years," he said.

The homicide number for the year is still well off the record, which Jones said was 37 in 1992. This year's total includes two rashes of multiple homicides within a few days. In one case, authorities opened three separate homicide investigations in one day.

And although he doesn't keep numbers on it, Jones said there was an unusually high number of bodies found this year in a decomposing state.

"We have found more people dead this year than we have ever found since I've been in the coroner's office," he said. "A lot of them had been dead for several days."

In June alone, he said, about 10 bodies were found that had been dead for three or more days. Some were in close proximity to neighbors.

"I cannot understand how someone can lay decomposing in a house and there are next-door neighbors," he said. "You can tell a decomposed human body from a decomposed animal. The smell is different."

MANY DIE ALONE

Another issue Jones has dealt with more than ever this year, he said, is people who have died with no family members who can be located.

"I have to get a court order to have them cremated," he said.

Jones pointed to a stack of several small, plain boxes against one wall of his office that contain the unclaimed ashes of cremated bodies.

A couple of urns filled with ashes were recovered from storage units with unpaid rents, and the contents were auctioned off.

And there are more unclaimed ashes in funeral homes that he hasn't picked up yet. He also has had an urn turned in that was found in a dumpster.

Being disconnected from family is a trend that Jones said he sees all to often when people die, especially when bodies aren't found until days later.

He has a message for people who are still living and have fallen out with family.

"Bury the hatchet," he said. "It's your family."

That's something he also sees in suicide cases. Bibb County has had 15 suicides this year, which Jones said is about average. Also at play in suicides are mental illness and people suffering from terminal illness. Suicides cover all ages, races and socioeconomic strata. He remembered a man who committed suicide who made $200,000 a year.

"Suicide has no particular race or gender," he said.

PREPARED FOR THE WORST

As difficult as the year has been, Jones also recognizes that it could have been worse. He closely follows incidents of mass shootings across the nation and tries to remain prepared for that here.

"If we have an active shooter right now, I know how many transport vehicles I can get," he said. "I know how many morgues are available for my use, in this county and surrounding counties."

He actually deals with coroners in surrounding counties quite a bit, because so many people injured in accidents in those counties are brought to the Medical Center, Navicent Health. When those people die, Jones turns over the case to the coroner of the county where the accident happened.

Danny Mathis, the coroner in Bleckley County, has known Jones for years and said he has often been a big help to him. He admires Jones' work ethic and dedication to the profession.

"Leon is hands-on," Mathis said. "He loves what he does, and I think he is good at what he does."

While even coroners in small counties have their share of untimely and unusual deaths, Mathis said he does not envy Jones' job.

"You could not hog-tie me to make me be the coroner of Bibb County," he said. "He handles it about as best as anybody up there could."

The principal job of the coroner's office is to determine the cause and manner of a death. In doing so, Jones said, the ultimate aim is to prevent death.

He talks to civic clubs and schools about seeing the consequences of people's carelessness.

"We believe most accidents are preventable," he said.

To contact writer Wayne Crenshaw, call 256-9725.

This story was originally published December 27, 2015 at 9:54 PM with the headline "Bibb coroner reflects on busy year ."