Bartholomew County Coroner Tom Barrett Photo provided by Tom Barrett
A longtime deputy coroner and paramedic is set to take office next week as the next Bartholomew County Coroner as the community contends with a historic rise in suicides and ongoing overdose deaths.
Tom Barrett, 50, will be sworn in as Bartholomew County Coroner on Wednesday after running unopposed as the Republican nominee in last year’s general election, succeeding current Bartholomew County Coroner Clayton Nolting.
Nolting was term-limited and could not seek reelection but said he plans to serve as a deputy coroner once Barrett takes office.
Barrett, who has been a deputy coroner for several years and a paramedic at Columbus Regional Health for nearly 20 years, said he does not anticipate major changes at the coroner’s office and plans to follow the approach that Nolting has taken over the past two terms.
“I’ve learned a lot over the past seven years (as a deputy coroner) and just want to continue the good things we have going on in the office right now and keep … running it pretty much similar to the fashion that we’ve had it going now,” Barrett said.
In Indiana, coroners’ main duties include identifying the deceased and determining the cause and manner of death, according to the Indiana State Coroners Training Board.
However, the Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office does not investigate every death in the county, officials said previously. Coroners have jurisdiction over all homicides, suicides and accidents and investigate natural deaths that are sudden, unexpected, unwitnessed or suspicious, or if the person who died didn’t have a physician. Most deaths in Bartholomew County are certified by an attending physician, officials said.
Barrett, for his part, was born in Holton, Indiana, a town of just over 400 people in Ripley County, but grew up in Jennings County.
Barrett has been in the volunteer fire service for 32 years, following in the footsteps of his father. He said he wanted to become a paramedic after his father became ill.
“He became very ill when I was a young adult, probably in my early 20s,” Barrett said. “(I) just got some medical knowledge and schooling to try to help him out and enjoyed doing it and just kind of pursued on through that.”
Barrett said he received his basic EMT license in Batesville and then his advanced EMT license and paramedic license at Ivy Tech in Columbus.
Barrett will take office next week as the county sees a historic rise in suicides and as overdose deaths continue
Earlier this month, 18 people in Bartholomew County had died by suicide this year — more than doubling from last year and the highest annual total on record in data going back to 2018, according to the Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office.
While local overdose deaths were on pace as of late November to decline this year for the second consecutive year, they are still considerably higher than in 2015 and 2016.
As of Nov. 27, there had been 19 overdose deaths int he county this year. By comparison, there had been 23 overdose deaths at the same point in 2023 and six deaths during all of 2015.
From Jan. 1, 2015, to Nov. 27, 2024, a total of 236 people in Bartholomew County died from drug overdoses, including 103 deaths from 2020 to 2022 — setting a record in each of those years.
Officials have said fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is more potent than heroin but is cheaper to produce and distribute, has become increasingly prevalent in the community. However, most overdose deaths involve multiple substances.
Barrett said investigating overdose deaths and suicides will be among his priorities in office.
“We have an epidemic all over the United States and beyond as far as fentanyl and things like that, just trying to work and investigate the fentanyl deaths,” Barrett said. “We’re seeing a lot more methamphetamine overdoses. …Just trying to do the best I can to investigate any suicides and things like that and just get some closure for the families more than anything.”
Overall, Barrett said he seeks to maintain continuity as he takes over the reins of the coroner’s office.
“We’ve got a good group of people that work for the coroner’s office right now, and I just want to kind of keep it that way and keep the investigations going the way we do and hopefully just do the best job we can do for the citizens of Bartholomew County,” Barrett said.
