For 35 years he’s arrived on the scene of deaths in Lawrence County. Coroner investigator Bill Nenni has seen a little bit of everything in his time on the job. But, now he’s looking forward to seeing retirement.

“It’s been eventful,” Nenni said about his time with the coroner’s office. “But, I’m looking forward to traveling with my wife. I’ve seen a lot of things, something interesting to me is the trends that appear when looking at the files.”

Nenni has compiled files at the coroner’s office that date back all the way to 1951. The files provide a statistical analysis of deaths in the county. Those numbers, Nenni said, were important to helping improve life and safety for local residents.

“It’s good historical documentation of how we have improved in certain areas,” Nenni said. “It also gives us an idea on what areas we need to improve in. For example drug overdoses.”

According to the data that Nenni has compiled over the years, no deaths were accredited to accidental overdoses before the year 2000.

“But, since that time we have had several,” he said. “It’s an alarming trend to go from zero to well over 50 in a matter of years. But, it’s information that can be vital to county officials.”

No matter how much work the coroner’s office does to help county officials or law enforcement, it is the family of the deceased who needs the office the most.

“We are very important to those families,” Nenni said. “They look to us to help bring closure to a rough time. It’s our job to speak for those who can no longer speak for themselves.”

Nenni also works as a contractor and will continue to do so upon his retirement from the coroner’s office.

“I won’t be giving up that,” he said. “But, I do plan to use the extra free time I have to travel more with my wife like I said. We already have some trips planned.”