Andy East | The Republic
Suicide deaths in Bartholomew County are on pace to decline this year after hitting a record high last year, according to data from the Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office.
As of Nov. 13, a total of 11 people in Bartholomew County had committed death by suicide so far this year. By comparison, there had been 15 deaths by suicide in Bartholomew County as of Nov. 13, 2024.
About 55% of the suicides this year have involved firearms, according to the Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office. Despite the decrease so far this year, the 2025 total is already higher than the 2022 and 2023 totals.
“We, of course, would like to see that down to none,” said Sue Lamborn, executive director of Family Service Inc., who is involved with the local Suicide and Overdose Fatality Review (SOFR) team, which reviews each overdose death and suicide in the county.
Last year, deaths by suicide in Bartholomew County soared to a record 18 — the highest annual total since at least 2015 and up from eight in 2023 and six in 2022, according to the Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office.
“We’re not sure why the suicide numbers spiked last year, and we’re cautious about celebrating a downturn,” said Bartholomew County Deputy Coroner Jay Frederick said earlier this year.
Officials say that suicide is a complex issue, and many factors likely contributed to the increase last year, including social isolation and financial problems, among others.
Charlotte Barton Coombs, former executive director of Family Service Inc. and coordinator of the Bartholomew County Suicide and Overdose Review Team, or SOFR, told The Republic earlier this year that, “It’s very fair to say that we are seeing a public health crisis.”
Federal records also show that Indiana’s suicide rate has been trending upward in recent years and his higher than the national rate.
Indiana’s suicide rate was 17 per 100,000 people in 2023, up from 14.18 in 2019 and 14.28 in 2014, according to the recent data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By comparison, the national rate was 14.1 in 2023.
“Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in Indiana and second leading cause of death for Hoosiers between the ages of 10 and 34 years. …More than 1,000 Hoosiers have been lost to suicide every year since 2016 … and Indiana is in the top 10 of U.S. states showing the largest percentage increase in deaths by suicide among 10- to 24-year-olds between 2007 and 2018,” according to Indiana Suicide Prevention.
The age-adjusted suicide rate in Columbus Regional Health’s service area — which includes Bartholomew County and several other counties — was 17.5 per 100,000 people from 2018 to 2020, which was higher than the age-adjusted state rate (15.1) and the national rate (13.9) over the same period, according to CRH’s most recent Community Health Needs Assessment.
Additionally, local data suggests that suicidal ideation has become more common.
The percentage of residents of Bartholomew, Jackson and Jennings counties who reported thinking about taking their own lives has increased in recent years, according to CRH’s three most recent Community Health Needs Assessments.
A total of 10.1% of Bartholomew County residents who participated in the 2024 survey reported that they had considered suicide within the past year, up from 9.8% in the 2021 survey and 6.9% in the 2018 survey.
In 2024, 9.5% of Jennings County respondents reported considering suicide within the past year, up from 6.7% in 2021 and 1.4% in 2018.
The coroner’s office, for its part, has said it will continue to provide reports with the local SOFR team.
The SOFR team is a multi-disciplinary group that meets every other month to review each overdose death and suicide in the county to examine what happened, what gaps may exist in local prevention efforts and develop data-informed prevention initiatives to prevent future deaths.
The SOFR team includes representatives from the Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress (ASAP), Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office, CRH and Centerstone, among others.
Last year, the SOFR team said it had identified those who chose death by suicide in Bartholomew County typically had been seen by a doctor or been to the hospital within two months before taking their lives. They also generally recently had a change in work status or financial status, including reduced work hours or retirement.
Lamborn said the SOFR team is generally about nine months behind in reviewing cases, which is the recommended practice by the Indiana Department of Health. As a result, the team has not reviewed most of the suicides that have occurred this year.
“We’ve been collaborating with several agencies that are on the SOFR team,” Lamborn said. “…We’re seeing (suicide victims) predominantly (ages) 45 and over. …We are seeing and we have talked about the lack of (suicide victims) being connected to support systems. We’re also seeing some increase of people having opioids or drugs in their system.”
