The Marshall County Council members approved additional appropriation requests from Marshall County Coroner Bill Cleavenger in the amount of $26,500 to cover costs.
Cleavenger explained that this has been a rather active year for his department. He has had to oversee more autopsies than anticipated and more incidents in which to respond. Approximately $21,000 was needed for the autopsy line item, $4,000 for toxicology, $1,000 for radiology and $500 for morgue supplies.
The Marshall County Coroner’s Office announced Thursday that alcohol was not a factor in Sunday’s boating fatality on Lake Latonka in Plymouth. Sixty-one-year-old Roger R. Martin of Chicago was killed when he was run over by a ski boat driven by a family member. Martin had fallen from the boat and was struck by the propeller as it was making a sharp turn to recover skiers who had fallen from a water tube being towed behind the boat.
Coroner Bill Cleavenger said Thursday morning after discussing the incident with the Indiana conservation officers and the Marshall County Prosecutor’s Office that alcohol did not play a part in Martin’s death.
The incident remains under investigation by the conservation department and the coroner’s office, but Cleavenger emphasized that alcohol consumption by neither the victim nor boat operator played a part in Martin’s death.
