Franklin County Coroner's Office

Celebrates new building

November 6, 2025

By: Katherine Trowbridge

The new Franklin County Coroner’s Building located on 5th in Pasco.

The Franklin County Coroner’s Office celebrated the grand opening of their new building with the community on Wednesday, October 29. 

It's not everyday you get the opportunity to go behind the scenes and take a look inside the world of our local Coroner’s office.  

The community was given tours of the new office space which includes a reception area, a room to meet with families, and a lab complete with a blood analyzer machine that can let them know within an hour what drugs/alcohol was in the person's system. 

The office building leads out into a second building where the office will bring bodies in their vehicles right into the vehicle bay to unload and assess before placing into the 33 degree cooler that can house more than eight. This area also features the autopsy/exam room, a sterile almost operating style room with a window to the observation room where Prosecutors and Law Enforcement Officials can view the autopsy proceedings. 

This sterile room is also utilized for tissue donation extraction and by Lion’s World Vision for their cornea donation program. They will be the main benefactors of this room, utilizing it as a regional center for tissue and cornea donation extractions. 

The new building has taken between two to three years from the initial discussions with the Franklin County Commissioners to its completion. Franklin County Coroner Curtis McGary shared, “During construction and financing of it, it was not always a labor of love… “

The financing for the building came through American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding with some additional funds provided by the county. A positive of this project is that no tax payer dollars were used, McGary shared.

“Hard work pays off and, in this case, is going to benefit the county for years to come and generate revenue for the county by leasing out the autopsy room for tissue and cornea extractions.” McGary stated, “Now that it’s completed, I am happy with it.” 

Prior to this building, the Coroner’s office took up a small space in a basement and paid to use the autopsy room and other services at the Benton County Coroner’s building. With a growing community, both Benton and Franklin County’s case loads have increased and with it being Benton County’s building, McGary explained, they would often have to wait as Benton County took precedence or even had to travel to the West Side of the state to utilize services. This was difficult for many, especially the families. 

Now families have a beautiful room to meet in that is right here in Franklin County and makes an already difficult experience less taxing.

“I’m so glad the way it turned out and the way it works for us. It’s a really nice flow,” McGary added of the building. 

The building will not only benefit the Coroner’s office and law enforcement officials but the county as a whole. With better efficiency, space to meet with families, and space for law enforcement to gather the data they need.

Connell Police Chief Chris Lee was among those attending the tour. He shared that the best part is “Having them be efficient… If they’re efficient and have all the resources we need, that expedites things for us and makes all the difference to get the information we need and then get information to the families.”

Einan’s Funeral Home Sunset Gardens staff also attended. Amy Eslinger, their lead transfer coordinator shared, “This is gonna be so nice for Franklin County. We’re really excited to come and see their space and see what’s going on here.” 

Eslinger added that the building will be helpful to the Coroners but also to the community explaining, “This is really, really nice for the community. With my department expanding services, this is gonna be a great partnership.” 

Others attending included Franklin County Emergency Management, staff at local hospitals, Hospice Volunteers and State Patrol.