Washington County Coroner

04/03/2026

Yesterday, we officially opened the county morgue located in the old Washington County Ambulance building behind the courthouse. This morgue has the ability to hold 3 deceased individuals and houses the office's transport van. For the last 20 years Styninger Funeral Home and Campagna Funeral Home have provided morgue services to the county free of charge. However with the increase in cremation rates, the demand for cooler use made it difficult for the funeral homes to continue to offer this. Autopsies will not be performed here as they will continue to be performed in Benton, Marion and O'Fallon by licensed Forensic Pathologists. We will however be able to do external post mortem examinations, toxicology and fluid sample draws along with gunshot residue testing collection in this space. The cooler was purchased entirely with grant money at no cost to the county taxpayers whatsoever. The building will be shared between the Coroner's Office and the Washington County IL Emergency Management Agency.

02/04/2026

01/22/2026

Myself along with Chief Deputy Coroner Steve Fletcher and Deputy Coroner Jamie Turner attended the annual Illinois Coroners and Medical Examiners Association Winter Conference in Mt. Vernon on Tuesday and Wedneday of this week. This years focus was Advanced Crime Scene and Death Investigation and was taught by a retired St. Louis County Police Department CSI Investigator and a St. Louis County Medical Examiners Investigator. As an elected County Coroner, I am required by the State of Illinois to obtain 24 hours a year of continuing education. This was a very informative training as we studied numerous actual cases which occured over the years in St. Louis County.

01/13/2026

WASHINGTON COUNTY CORONER'S OFFICE
NASHVILLE, ILLINOIS 62263
Mark S. Styninger, Coroner (618) 314-5229

2025 ANNUAL REPORT

Total Calls Received: 113
Scene Responses by Coroner or Deputy Coroner: 37
Natural Deaths 101
Accidental Deaths 10
(Motor Vehicle 6, Overdose 4, Drowning 1, Fire 0, Fall 0, Aviation 0)
Su***de Deaths 0
Homicide Deaths 0
Undetermined Manner of Death 0
Death Notification for Outside Agency 1
Pronounced Person Alive After Arriving 1

Autopsies Performed 3
Toxicology Tests Performed 8
Inquests Held 0
Cremation Permits Issued 58

*The number of deaths reported do not reflect individuals who were injured in Washington County but died after being transported to a hospital in another county or state.

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01/09/2026

12/25/2025

PRESS RELEASE

At 2:12 a.m. on Thursday, December 25, 2025 Washington County Coroner Mark Styninger was dispatched to the emergency room at Washington County Hospital. Christopher Wright, 49 of Pinckneyville was pronounced dead at 2:10 a.m. by hospital staff. Wright was transported to the E.R. by Washington County Ambulance from the scene of a single car motor vehicle crash at North Carolina Road and County Highway 7 in rural Ashley. Reportedly he was the unrestrained driver of a Ford F150 pickup
truck which struck a ditch at that location. A female passenger was transported from the scene directly to St. Louis University Hospital with major injuries. Cause of death appears to be blunt force trauma with head injuries and the manner accidental. Toxicology samples were obtained by Coroner Styninger for routine testing.

Agencies on the scene were the Washington County Ambulance Service, Nashville Fire Department, Nashville Police Department and Washington County Sheriff’s Department.

The crash continues to be investigated by the Washington County Sheriff’s Department and Coroner’s Office.

No further information will be available at this time.

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12/16/2025

Yesterday, Governor JB Pritzker signed into law Senate Bill1950 which legalizes assisted su***de in the State of Illinois for those people suffering a terminal illness. This was part of the "Sanitary Food Preparation Act" which is apparently how our legislatures do things in this state. This bill has been an extremely contentious bill with the Illinois Coroners and Medical Examiners Association which vigorously fought against it. It prohibits coroners from signing the manner of death as a su***de, even though the bill clearly is called physician assisted su***de. In my opinion if a physician orders a lethal dose of medication to a terminally ill patient, this clearly becomes a medical case and NOT a coroner case but unfortunately there is a gray area here.

I am not sure if I will ever encounter this in Washington County nor how I or others feel about it. As a Christian I feel God determines when our time on earth is complete but as a human I watched my own dad lay in a hospital bed at Washington County Hospital for 13 days dying with lung cancer and understand the emotion and frustration. I don't post this as a point of controversy but information as your County Coroner.

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11/23/2025

WASHINGTON COUNTY CORONER'S OFFICE
Mark S. Styninger, Coroner
224 S. WASHINGTON ST. NASHVILLE, ILLINOIS 62263
[email protected]

PRESS RELEASE

At 8:34 p.m. on Saturday November 22, 2025 our office was dispatched to the scene of a 2 vehicle head on crash on Illinois Route 15 approximately 4 miles east of Nashville. Devin T. Cepaitis 21, of Nashville, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident at 8:47 p.m. by Washington County Coroner Mark Styninger. A female passenger was airlifted from the scene to a St. Louis Hospital with major injuries. While on the scene, coroner Styninger was then dispatched to the Washington County Hospital emergency room where Elizabeth J. Voelkel, 20 of Nashville was pronounced dead at 9:00 p.m. by hospital staff. She was the restrained driver of the other vehicle involved. A male passenger in her vehicle was transported to Washington County Hospital with significant injuries.

Investigation into the crash is in the early stages and details remain unclear at this time. Toxicology samples were obtained by Coroner Styninger for routine testing.

Agencies on the scene were the Washington County Ambulance Service, Pinckneyville Ambulance Service, Nashville Fire Department, Nashville Police Department, Washington County Sheriff’s Department and the Washington County Coroner’s Office.
The crash continues to be investigated by the Illinois State Police Traffic Crash Reconstruction Unit Team who was dispatched to the scene as well and the Washington County Coroner’s Office.

No further information will be available at this time.

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