TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Pima County Medical Examiner's Office has been operating in a space where the current capacity doesn't meet the needs for a growing Southern Arizona population.
Now, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Greg Hess said he's looking forward to moving into the new medical examiner facility. Located just a block south of the current facility, the new building is twice the size.
Dr. Hess said the plans for the building anticipated the growth of populations in Pima County and the smaller surrounding counties. He added how Southern Arizona also experiences an issue unique to our border state, which created a need for additional plans.
“The migrant deaths we started to see in Southern Arizona really started in the year 2000. That predates our old facility. So this does give us an opportunity when we built this one to think about how we house our unidentified remains long term. We are going to be doing that differently in this building,” said Dr. Hess.
Pima County Medical Examiner's Office records data to show the number of deaths determined to be undocumented border crossers. Many unidentified remains, Dr. Hess said, are likely of this group.
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Construction was completed earlier this month for the building and final inspections are underway. Dr. Hess expects to move into the new facility before the end of the year.
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Reyna Preciado is a reporter for KGUN 9, she joined the KGUN 9 team in July of 2022 after graduating Arizona State University. Share your story ideas with Reyna by emailing reyna.preciado@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram, or Twitter.
