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Greene Co Sheriff Jack Williams

The Greene County Board of Supervisors recently approved two individuals to help with medical examiner responsibilities.

Sheriff Jack Williams and Greene County Ambulance Director Michele Madsen were recently certified to be County Medical Examiner Investigators. Williams says they can investigate a death that didn’t involve the presence of a doctor or family member. When the investigation is over, Williams or Madsen can then pass the information to the Greene County Medical Examiner, Dr. Robert Clemons, who then signs off and sends it to the State Medical Examiner’s office. 

Madsen talks about the certification course she and Williams recently went through.

“We went to St. Louis University to an accredited program for medical/legal death investigation. It was a four-day class and we gathered a lot of information from people who are well-renowned in their field.”

Williams explains why he and Madsen wanted to take on the responsibilities to assist Dr. Clemons.

“MEI (Medical Examiner Investigators) are getting really short in the state, along with medical examiners also. And being one of the two of us is usually on 98-percent of any fatality or death scene. It just seemed logical for us two to go ahead and move forward with doing it. We did two of us because I don’t want to investigate a law enforcement-related death. That should be somebody who is separate from law enforcement. We work together well so I think it will progress smoothly.”

Williams clarifies that while he and Madsen are certified medical examiner investigators, the county’s  medical examiner must be a doctor.