The Navajo Nation Department of Criminal Investigations does not have an on-site medical examiner, forcing criminal investigators to take on duties they are not properly trained for and slowing down murdered and missing persons investigations.
On March 16, the department presented updates to the Navajo Nation Law and Order Committee, highlighting both progress and funding challenges in investigations.
A DNA program, funded through a U.S. Department of Justice grant, helped identify missing and unidentified people, including 15 from the nation. Yet many of such investigations are slowed or stalled due the lack of a medical examiner and on-site crime lab.
In 2018, a Navajo Nation resolution established a Department of Medical Examiners, which would “investigate all deaths occurring under suspicious circumstances.”
However, the position has never been filled.
Eugenia Charles-Newton, a chairwoman of the nation’s Law and Order Committee, said the nation does not have enough funding to pay an adequate wage to a medical examiner. Instead, they outsource the service to the Coconino County Health and Human Services Medical Examiner’s Office in Flagstaff.
Since the Department of Medical Examiners was established, Charles-Newton said the Navajo Nation officials have made little progress advocating for more Indian Health Services funds. She said the committee wants to establish a 638 contract with the IHS, funding the medical examiner position.
A 638 contract is an agreement authorized under the Indian Self Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975. It allows tribes to take over certain federally funded programs and operate them themselves.
According to the Navajo Nation Law and Order Committee, the IHS has reported that a medical examiner is unnecessary based on low in-facility death counts. The committee disputes that claim, saying those figures exclude homicides and deaths outside hospitals.
IHS did not respond to a Cronkite News request for comments and referred back to the Department of the Medical Examiner, within the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety.
Charles-Newton said the situation has put a strain on criminal investigators who have now had to wear “two hats.”.
“When people go missing, instead of their focus being on the people going missing, their priority becomes having to respond to death investigations,” Charles-Newton said.
The NDCI is responsible for criminal investigations within the boundaries of Navajo Nation, including homicides. Dale West, the criminal investigation supervisor at the Shiprock, New Mexico, branch of NDCI, verified that investigators have had to assume two roles on the nation: investigating homicides and certifying cause of deaths.
Traditionally, when an investigator is at the scene of a crime involving a death, they are there to determine what happened and establish any potential perpetrators.
Medical examiners, however, are responsible for calculating the cause of death and executing a death certificate.
“We’ve had to balance the training of that with our major crimes, and it’s been a real struggle for us over the years,” West said. “That duty needs to be separated.”
West said he has been trying to bring staffing issues to the attention of federal entities such as the IHS, Bureau of Indian Affairs and Congress for years.
Only three of the eight needed positions in the Shiprock office are filled, West said, on top of the medical examiner duties. He said more Bureau of Indian Affairs money is necessary to fill the other five positions.
The Bureau did not respond to Cronkite News’ request for comment.
West said a lack of proper staffing has “hugely” affected efficiency when investigating MMIP cases.
“People are going to be working as hard as they can and to the best of their ability, but there’s no way to be able to help everybody in a timely manner,” West said. “We either need additional funding … or you need to separate the duties.”
West said hiring for any law enforcement position has been difficult due to a nationwide trend of reduced staff at agencies.
The nation outsources several services when it comes to death investigations.
“Our partnership with the Navajo Nation reflects a shared commitment to public safety and compassionate service to families,” according to Michele Axlund, the director of Health and Human Services for Coconino County. “We know that increasing resources and access to services is essential to bringing closure to families who are waiting for answers.”
The Navajo Nation also works with the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification for DNA testing and the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, based at the University of New Mexico.
Heather Edgar, a forensic anthropologist with the Office of Medical Investigator, said she works on many MMIP cases but often struggles to coordinate with different Native law enforcement agencies.
“All of those agencies are probably strapped for resources and they’re working really hard on current cases,” Edgar said. “Sometimes when we need to get information about older cases, it can be really challenging.”
Edgar said it’s evident that they do not have sufficient staffing, as they often miss parts of the story or provide poor photographs when communicating with her.
“They need appropriate funding so that they can be timely and responsive,” Edgar said. “They need more training in contemporary methods.”
Edgar said that having an entire medical examiner team would be beneficial to investigations – as long as it’s adequately funded.
“A medical examiner’s office isn’t just a medical examiner. It’s medical examiners, it’s facilities, it’s death investigators, it’s an anthropologist,” Edgar said. “It only makes sense if they are properly resourced.”
Charles-Newton said she hopes the Law and Order Committee establishes a working relationship with the IHS to successfully fill the positions, relieving the current criminal investigators from the additional responsibility.
“Our stance has never been, ‘federal government, this is your responsibility.’ Our stance has always been, ‘let’s share in this responsibility,’” Charles-Newton said. “Navajo Nation is willing to assist in paying for the portion of the medical examiner’s position, but we need help.”