St. Landry Parish receives federal grant to fund new morgue
OPELOUSAS, La. (KLFY) -- St. Landry Parish will soon be getting a new morgue.
St. Landry Parish Government has announced that it has been awarded a grant of $201,431 to advance and upgrade the operations of the Coroner's Office. The money will be used for the purchase and installation of a Coroner's Examination Room and Morgue, with the aim of upgrading the coroner services in the parish.
"This is a first for St. Landry Parish," St. Landry Parish Coroner Zeb Stearns said. "We have never had a morgue facility before, and until now, deceased individuals have been stored at various funeral homes across the parish."
The grant will cover the construction of a dedicated Coroner's examination room and morgue facility, which will improve the storage and preservation of deceased individuals. This new facility will play a crucial role in maintaining the integrity of evidence and expediting the autopsy process, according to Layne Herpin, St. Landry Parish public information officer.
"By enabling the Coroner's Office to handle cases more swiftly, this upgraded facility will lead to quicker determinations of the cause and manner of death," Herpin said.
The facility will be located in Eunice.
The application was submitted to the Department of Justice, and the parish was awarded the grant in September.