BOISE, ID – In 2024, a watchdog state government agency issued a slew of recommendations to reform Idaho’s coroner system.
A tweak to Idaho’s death investigation system is just the start. But to one parent, it’s not enough.
One of the issues flagged in the report, by the Office of Performance Evaluations, was that Idaho law “does not prevent a coroner” from sharing information gathered in a death investigation.
Without a clear understanding about confidentiality requirements, “each coroner just kind of does their own thing,” the agency’s director, Ryan Langrill, told the Idaho Capital Sun last year.
But a bill close to clearing the Idaho Legislature would prevent photos from death investigations from being publicly released.
Senate Bill 1250 is headed to the Idaho House, after unanimously passing the Senate last month.
Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow, a Boise Democrat who’s sponsoring the bill, brought a similar bill last year. But she pulled it over concerns it would conceal more death investigation records than she intended to.
“There’s no one that needs to see the photo or image of somebody who has passed away,” Wintrow told the House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee on Thursday.
Allen Hodges testified about his daughter’s death — and his fear that nude photos of her taken in her death investigation could become public. He has pushed for the change in state law for more than a year, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.
“I’m here, not just for myself, but other citizens of Idaho. You lose a grandma; you lose a grandfather. Why should those images, if they’re taken by a coroner or law enforcement, be public fodder and for other people’s enjoyment? It’s wrong,” Hodges said.
Alivea Goncalves, whose sister Kaylee Goncalves died in a quadruple murder in Moscow in 2022, also testified in support of the bill.
Alivea Goncalves said she worried about the “very real possibility that these photos one day might find their way to the internet.”
Last summer, as law enforcement released troves of information from the investigation into a quadruple murder in Moscow, KTVB published blurred photos from the crime scene, which the outlet received through a public records request from local police. The Boise-based TV station was the only Idaho news outlet to publish the photos, and families were not notified before they were released, the Spokesman-Review reported.
The bill would add to records exempt from Idaho’s Public Records Act “any photographs or images of a decedent taken as part of a coroner death investigation or law enforcement investigation regardless of whether such investigation is active or not.” The bill would allow photos to be released to next of kin once investigations and criminal cases, including appeals and civil proceedings, are done.
The bill is cosponsored by Senate Majority Leader Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian, and Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa.
If the bill passes the House, it would go to Gov. Brad Little for final consideration. If passed into law, the bill would take effect July 1.
Idaho Capital Sun is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com.
