Spokane medical examiner axes contract with Kootenai County because of a disgruntled former employee ‘working against’ the office

The Spokane County medical examiner axed its contract to provide autopsies for Kootenai County, according to documents obtained by The Spokesman-Review.

Spokane County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Veena Singh emailed Kootenai County Coroner Duke Johnson on Dec. 15 to notify him the decadeslong partnership would end on Jan. 15 because of a disgruntled former employee. Singh accused her former employee of “working closely” with a deputy coroner in Kootenai County to “destabilize” their office operations, she said in the email.

“While of course your staff can act as they please and associate with whom they please, I am sure you can understand that I am not willing to spend SCMEO time and resources on assisting an office that is actively working against us,” Singh wrote.

The Spokane County Commission approved a short contract that expires Jan. 31 to help Kootenai County’s transition, Spokane County spokesperson Martha Lou Wheatley-Billeter said.

Johnson told The Spokesman-Review he was “blindsided.” The Kootenai County coroner sends bodies to Spokane for further investigation because the county does not have a facility up to standard to conduct autopsies. The arrangement began more than 30 years ago.

Johnson said the former Spokane County employee had reached out to his deputy coroner to state she was terminated. When Johnson reviewed the correspondence between the two, he felt it wasn’t concerning enough to terminate the long history of working together. The deputy coroner’s response to the former employee felt more “social” than malicious, Johnson said.

“I asked for evidence,” he said. “I can’t find any.”

Spokane County declined to specify what led to the contract termination because it is a personnel issue. When asked about the termination, Singh directed questions to the county’s communications office.

Johnson emailed Singh that morning and told her he was surprised to hear of the contract termination. Nobody from the medical examiner had reached out to him to discuss ending the relationship prior to Singh’s email, he said.

“I have had absolutely no knowledge of the termination of this former employee and have no knowledge of who they are. I have just spoken with the employee here, that you are probably referring to, and he absolutely denies that he has been ‘working closely’ with this disgruntled former employee as you have stated or even working with her at all. He has not made any statements to union representatives. He had done absolutely nothing to support her defense in any way,” Johnson wrote back. “In fact, the employee here states that he would be happy to also discuss this matter directly with you if needed.”

Johnson also suggested there is a high likelihood the former employee is lying about the interaction. He then asked Singh to set up a meeting to clarify what happened, according to the email. Johnson told The Spokesman-Review that meeting didn’t happen. Singh told him she needed to confer with the Spokane County commissioners on how to proceed and asked him to be patient until then, the emails say.

Johnson asked whether Singh would consider continuing to provide autopsies for the county until the situation is ironed out so Kootenai County has time to adjust to the change, but Singh did not respond. Kootenai County sends an average of 70 bodies across the border annually at a cost of $2,000 per autopsy, according to Wheatley-Billeter. Losing the $140,000 a year won’t cause a budget problem, Wheatley-Billeter said.

It’s possible the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office may decide to offer autopsy services for another Washington County to replace the loss of Kootenai County.

Johnson said the cost to send a body to the Ada County Coroner’s Office in Boise is too expensive at a fee of around $5,000. Kootenai County also tried sending bodies to Seattle, but was denied, he added.

In the short term, Kootenai County will choose to make use of a room inside a funeral home until the coroner’s office can modify an empty sheriff’s office building. Future plans entail building a new facility altogether, Johnson said.

Editor’s note: This story was changed on Jan. 13, 2026, to correct contract details about the Spokane County Commission’s decision to allow the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office to continue performing autopsies for Kootenai County through Jan. 31.