Coroner

Terry L. Millslagle

Schuyler County Coroner
102 S. Congress St., Ste. 401 | Rushville, IL 62681
217-491-3250
schuylercoroner@schuylercountyil.gov
fax 309-214-6735

Terry joined the Office of Schuyler County Coroner in 2003. In 2009, attended the 40-Hour Coroner’s Training Course and was named Chief Deputy. In June of 2014 was Appointed Coroner after the Retirement of Dennis O. Lane. In December of 2014, was named Schuyler County Coroner.

Training

Crime Lab Procedures
Illinois Law Enforcement Standards and Training Board Certified Blood Spatter Course
Evidence Collection and Preservation
Federal, State and Local Law
Registered Illinois Vital Records System
Curriculum Development Problem Resolution
Employee Training and Development
Illinois Law Enforcement Standards and Training Board Certified Firearms Qualified
Illinois Law Enforcement Standards and Training Board Certified Interview Procedures

Meet Our Team

Coroner Terry L. Millslagle joined the office in 2003 as a Deputy and was named Coroner in 2014. He obtained his EMT license in 1976 and was also a Certified Emergency Rescue Technician. In 1983, he earned his Paramedic license along with EMS Educator certification and served on the faculty at Western Illinois University while instructing numerous EMS classes throughout Illinois. He held instructor status in both Basic Trauma Life Support (BTLS) and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS). Terry began his EMS career as a volunteer and later served as a full-time Paramedic, dedicating his entire career to Schuyler County and retiring from EMS after 44 years of service.

Deputy Coroner/Investigator William Thompson joined the coroner’s staff in 2014 and brings extensive public service experience to his role. He served 12 years in the United States Marine Corps and has completed 22 years of service with the Illinois Department of Corrections. Since 2011, he has worked as a Police Officer, and he has also volunteered as a firefighter since 2001, demonstrating a long-standing commitment to public safety and community service.

Deputy Coroner/Investigator Cheri Triplett joined the Coroner’s Office in 2022 and brings a strong healthcare background to her role. She completed nursing school in 2000 and has served as the Executive Director of the Family Care and Pregnancy Center since 2012. From 2018 to 2024, Cheri also served as the Nurse for the Schuyler County Correctional Facility, providing medical care within the correctional system.

Deputy Coroner/Investigator Trevor King joined the staff in 2025. He graduated from Bushnell-Prairie City High School in 2010 and served in the United States Army from 2011 to 2015 as a member of the Disaster Medical Assistance Team. In 2016, he became a registered Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). Trevor completed an associate’s degree in Criminal Justice from Spoon River College in 2018 and currently serves his community as both an EMT and a police officer.

Deputy Coroner/Investigator William C. Worthington joined the office in 2025. He has served as a volunteer firefighter since 2009 and graduated from mortuary school in 2012. In 2021, he became the owner of Worthington Funeral Home, bringing extensive funeral service experience and community involvement to his role.

Our Goal

Our staff is committed to providing the highest quality of Medico-legal death investigation in the most professional manner. Our office strives to serve our community with compassion while giving your loved one the dignity they deserve. – Coroner Terry L. Millslagle

When Death Occurs...Common Concerns and Help

Truly, the only universal experiences we share are birth and death. With birth, there is joy and elation. In death, there is sorrow and grief.

It is our hope that the Schuyler County Coroner's Office can help you through this trying time and resolve the questions you may have regarding the death of your loved one.

On behalf of our entire staff, we wish to express our sympathies at your time of loss and encourage you to call upon us if we may help in any way.

Why is the Coroner involved and what does the Coroner's Office do?

Illinois law requires that the Coroner's Office investigate any death of a sudden, violent, or suspicious nature. Generally speaking, any death that occurs outside of a hospital setting, or within 24 hours of admission to the hospital, requires notification of the Coroner's Office. The principal responsibility of the Coroner is to assure that a death did not occur as the result of foul play. To help determine the manner and cause of death, the investigator may employ a variety of investigative techniques including interviews with family members and physicians, scene analysis and photography, and physical examination of the decedent. Oftentimes, these aspects of the investigation will provide the information needed to close the death investigation. It is possible that the family physician will be allowed to certify the death certificate. Sometimes, family members feel as if they are under suspicion or are being asked overly personal questions. The investigation is meant to bring forth enough information to explain why your loved one died. What may seem like very personal or trivial information to you may be a wealth of knowledge for us. Please remember that it is our job to speak for the dead and assure that justice prevails among men and society.

Will there be an autopsy?

The Coroner's Office may defer an autopsy if enough facts concerning the events leading up to the death are known, verified, and supported by pre-existing medical conditions. Deaths involving violent means, including self-infliction, associated with police activity, workplace injury, the possibility of criminal activity, motor vehicle accidents, children, and those in good health prior to death will most likely be autopsied. Likewise, deaths in which the scene investigation suggests an external event (electrocution, drowning, overdose, fire, etc.) will probably undergo autopsy.

What other tests might the Coroner’s Office perform?

We have other scientific tests that we utilize alone or in conjunction with autopsy examination to aid our investigation. It is fairly routine for blood and other body fluids to be collected and sent for alcohol and drug screening. In fact, State law requires such tests in motor vehicle deaths. Other tests may include blood cultures to determine infections or x-rays to detect the presence of fractures.

Why was the deceased's medication collected by the investigator?

This is a routine and standard practice. The medication provides a "quick reference" to the types of diseases the deceased suffered. Additionally, if further blood tests are performed, the laboratory may need the actual medications to help interpret the results. As federal law prohibits possession of medications by anyone other than the person to whom it was prescribed, the medications will not be returned. They will be destroyed at the conclusion of the investigation.

When will personal effects be returned?

What else do I need to think about?

If you have not already done so, you will need to select a funeral home for arrangements after the preliminary investigation and/or autopsy are completed. Also, locating important documents such as insurance policies, veteran’s papers, and Social Security Number may be useful. Location, City, and State of birth, Level of Education, Occupation. You will undoubtedly have more questions. It's very important to write your questions down for later reference. Coroner’s staff will try to answer those questions or refer you to the person or agency that can.

How long will it be before a death certificate is available?

Where do I obtain certified copies of the death certificate and other coroner's reports?

The Coroner's Office DOES NOT maintain the death certificates. This task is performed by the County Registrar designated for the area of the county where the death occurred. The Rushville City Clerk in Rushville is ultimately responsible for maintaining death certificates for anyone who dies in Schuyler County. Your best course of action is to obtain the certificates through the funeral home that was responsible for arrangements.

Illinois Coroners and Medical Examiners Creed

Birth and death are the only two universal human experiences.

Birth is the most important biological event in the life of any human being. If it does not occur, there is no being. If there is no person, no legal rights and duties arise, for the law relates to rights and duties of the living people, not inanimate objects.

Death, on the other hand, is the most important legal event for all human beings. When it occurs, all legal rights and duties devolving upon the person during his life span in a civilized jurisdiction are terminated. All persons with whom the deceased had legal relations at that moment in time are also directly affected by the occurrence of death. Moreover, both the decedent and the survivors may be greatly affected legally by how the death occurred, what actually happened, why it occurred, and precisely when it occurred. Above all, who dies must be absolutely determined, and where death occurred is positively required for legal jurisdiction over the decedent is based upon a geographical location.

The law becomes extremely active when a person dies. Wealth is redistributed. Contracts are altered. A wrongful death may give rise to tortious claims. Tax obligations are always present. Public social benefits and private insurance policies are paid. Criminal laws may be invoked. Creditors must be satisfied, and debtors located. Spouse and children, heirs, and next-of-kin have their attachments rearranged. It is not surprising that for centuries the sovereign state has had an overriding interest in the death of its subjects or citizens. The ancient office of Coroner, or the modern office of Medical Examiner, along with the state-licensed physician is legally charged with significant duties in answering the pertinent questions relating to death: Who, Where, When, What, How, Why. Only when these questions have been answered correctly, can all the proper legal issues arising at death be effectively handled for the proper administration of justice.

Although the legal aspects of death are most important, certainly the religious and humanitarian heritages of a civilized society also command a deep concern over the death of a human being. The spiritual faith in a religion as well as the humanitarian concern for a fellow human being demand correct answers to the questions of death: who, where, how, when, and why. Human death obligates the living to acquire accurate facts on which to apply just laws for each deceased member of the human race.

The obligation for proper death investigation is mandatory for legal and religious humanitarian satisfactions in the human society. Let those responsible for death investigations take heed that they labor not only for the State but, also, for God.

Our commitment ... care of the Deceased; Concern for the Living ...

When is the Coroner is Notified and Responsibilities

Every coroner, whenever, as soon as he knows or is informed that the dead body of any person is found, or lying within his county, whose death is suspected of being:

A sudden or violent death, whether apparently suicidal, homicidal, or accidental, including but not limited to deaths apparently caused or contributed to by thermal, traumatic, chemical, electrical or radiational injury, or a complication of any of them, or by drowning or suffocation, or as a result of domestic violence as defined in the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986.
Any death due to a sex crime or a crime against nature including criminal or self-induced abortions and stillborn infants where there is a suspicion of illegal interference.
A death where the circumstances are suspicious, obscure, mysterious or otherwise unexplained.
A death where addiction to alcohol or to any drug may have been a contributory cause.
A death where the decedent was not attended by a licensed physician within the past 72-hours or death occurs within 24 hours of admission to a hospital (unless the patient has been under continuous care of a physician for a natural disease which is responsible for death)
A death on the operating table or prior to recovery from anesthesia
All deaths in any State institution
All deaths of wards of the State in a private care facility or in programs funded by the Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, the Illinois Department of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, or the Department of Children and Family Services.
All deaths occurring while being pursued, apprehended, or taken into custody of any law enforcement agency.
Any death of a fireman who dies within 30 days of working a fire.
All deaths arising from employment including industrial poisonings from absorption and/or inhalation
All hospice deaths.
All human skeletal remains including bones and decomposed fleshy parts of a deceased human body including grave artifacts.

shall go to the place where the dead body is, and take charge of the same and shall make a preliminary investigation into the circumstances of the death.

The primary responsibility of the Schuyler County Coroner's Office is to investigate all sudden and unexpected deaths that occur within the County. Sudden and unexpected does not always mean violent and/or traumatic, but those deaths are also investigated. The Coroner and staff have two specific duties when investigating a death; to determine cause of death (the medical reason why a person has died) and manner of death (the circumstances surrounding the death). Our daily tasks include but are not limited to responding to death scenes, collecting data, interacting with law enforcement personnel, identifying the decedent, notifying next of kin, scheduling autopsy exams, following up with physicians, preparing Coroner certificates of death and conducting inquests when necessary.

The Coroner is largely involved in public safety and serves as protector of the people. The Coroner has the same powers as the Sheriff. Should the Office of the Sheriff become vacant, the Coroner performs all the duties as required by law to be performed by the Sheriff, and retains those powers until another Sheriff is appointed or elected.

The Coroner issues Coroner's death certificates and cremation permits and also maintains records of all deaths in the County for which an inquest is held.

Mission Statement

Compassion, professionalism, public service and fiscal responsibility to the citizens of Schuyler County are priorities for the Coroner and staff.

Case Totals Monthly Reports

Freedom of Information Act

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a federal law enacted in 1966 to provide the public a right of access to government documents and records, the premise being that the public has a right to know what the government is doing. The act states that any person may request an agency for a copy of its records, and that the agency must provide such records, unless an exemption exists that protects the records from disclosure. While the Freedom of Information Act requires records be made available to the public, it does not mean free of cost. Fees will be applied for services such as programming, consultants, copies, certification, and postage. All fees must be prepaid. A request for documents and records pursuant to the FOIA must be in writing and identified as a "Freedom of Information Act" request. The Act requires a requestor to provide a reasonable description of the documents or records sought. A reasonable description is one that allows agency employees familiar with the subject matter to locate responsive records with a reasonable amount of effort. Requests that do not meet the reasonable description standard include requests for all records within a broad category. If your request does not contain a reasonable description, we will return the request for clarification. A precise description of the records you want will ensure responsible use of Coroner resources to satisfy your right of access while minimizing any processing costs to you.

Request for Examination or Copy of Records

Fees Charged for Reports

State Mandated Fees for Commonly Requested Coroner's Documents

Coroner's records and reports will be available after the death certificate is issued. Illinois law requires that fees be charged for the various reports and records requested. The current fee schedule for copies of coroner’s records and reports is:

	Fee
Coroner's Permit to Cremate	$100
Investigation Report	$50
Autopsy Report	$50
Toxicology Report	$25
Autopsy and/or Scene Photo	$3/photo
Coroner's Inquest Transcript	$5/page (if available)
Miscellaneous Report	$25

A written request is required to obtain the documents. For further information or to obtain an order form and the fee schedule, please call the Coroner's Office, at 217-491-3250. You may also visit the Schuyler County Coroner’s Office Facebook page for more information.

For More Information

If you have any questions, please contact the Coroner's Office at 217-491-3250.

Illinois Coroners and Medical Examiners Association

Gift of Hope