For Warren County’s taxpayers, unexplained deaths come with a price tag.

The county foots the bill for every ordered autopsy through the state crime lab, Warren County Coronor Doug Huskey told the Vicksburg Lions Club this week.

“Each autopsy is $1,000. That’s set by the state, every county is charged the same thing,” he said.

The county also pays a morgue fee of $150 for each day a body in stored at the crime lab, and it also must pay to have a body transported to and from the lab.

Autopsies are used to determine the cause and manner of death for someone who died in an unexplained manner. Most people typically think of the medical exams being used in suspected homicides and suicides, but state law requires autopsies in several instances, Huskey said.

Autopsies are required for anyone who dies before the age of 2, unless they were born with a birth defect, Huskey said.

“Mississippi had a very, very high instance of crib deaths, so the state passed that law,” Huskey said.

An autopsy is also required for anyone whose death is work-related or in the death of prisoners, Huskey said.

Autopsy results are typically available within a few days but results can sometimes take months, he said.

If someone dies in a hospital under the care of a physician, an autopsy cannot be performed at the crime lab, he said.

“The crime lab will not accept the body. That’s not what the crime lab does. Even if I send it over there, they will send it back,” he said. “That’s not what the crime lab is used for. They don’t do private autopsies.”

Families may request a private autopsy be performed through University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson at a cost of about $2,200, he said.

Huskey is a Warren County native and has been in the funeral business for more than 37 years and is currently manager of Glenwood Funeral Home. He became coroner nine years ago in a special election after the death of coroner John Thomason. Huskey is unopposed on the November ballot.