by Audrey Dutton

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A string of suspicious deaths. Two cases of infanticide that were nearly labeled as sudden infant death syndrome. A curiously low rate of opioid overdose deaths. These are among the red flags Idahoans have pointed to over the decades as they tried to get those in power to change Idaho’s system for death investigation, which relies on elected county coroners with virtually no state support or oversight.

Lawmakers have come close a few times to instituting reforms. But every attempt has failed. Often, the reason is simple, current and former coroners and national experts told ProPublica in recent months: Nobody wants to spend money on death.

But that leaves Idaho with a system where one coroner can choose not to follow national standards while a neighboring county’s coroner does.

Calls for reform to Idaho’s system have popped up nearly every decade since at least the 1950s. Some of the earliest pleas for change came from local physicians and........

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