ORANGEBURG COUNTY, S.C. — A lot has changed for the Orangeburg County Coroner’s Office since 1993, when Samuetta Marshall took over.
“There was this one little closet space that had a desk, a worn chair, a telephone and an electric typewriter that did not work,” Marshall said.
The new coroner’s office has a conference room and a viewing window for families to see their loved ones without disrupting evidence. It also has more workspace.
Marshall says that after 32 years of service, this was her last project as a coroner.
“I also look at life as a relay race, and you run your leg of the race, and you pass the baton and my goal was to get us home, and we’re home now.”
This week, in addition to a new building, the coroner’s office received a new truck equipped with generated air tanks, masks, lighting, exhaust fans, extraction ladders, tents, tables and chairs.
Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell says the new office and its capabilities will help with quicker investigations.
“You have citizens come to the Sheriffs Office, want to know things about their family member and we can just escort them right around here to the Coroner's Office, so it's going to help a lot," Ravenell said. "As far as the fast tracking of investigations, you know, we don’t have far to come ourselves just to come here and get information or to sit down and have meetings with them, so it's going to bring us closer together.”
Prior to this new building, Orangeburg County, Calhoun County, and the hospital shared only eight drawers for bodies.
The office can hold up to 50 bodies, which Orangeburg County Emergency Services director Billy Staley said is a big deal.
“Big challenge that we’ve had over the years? Capacity," said Staley. "When we have accidents that have multiple fatalities, you know, questions come up. How are we going to handle this? What are we going to do? Currently, in the past, we’ve shared our facilities at the hospital with other counties, so now we have that ability to do it here.”
The county said it hopes to be able to create autopsy spaces in the new building in the future.
In addition to the new coroner’s office, another building, expected to be completed in early 2025, will be behind the sheriff’s office. That building will house criminal investigations, victim services and forensics.