Lewis County Coroner’s Office: Suicides Up in 2017

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Lewis County is on track to have its highest number of suicides in the past seven years, Coroner Warren McLeod told the Board of Lewis County Commissioners this week. 

As of Tuesday, McLeod’s office has recorded 21 suicides in 2017 with more than a month left to go, leaving the first 11 months or so of the year tied with 2014 for the highest number of suicides recorded since McLeod took over as coroner in 2011.

Last year, Lewis County had 14 recorded suicides. 

McLeod said he and others have reviewed the county’s statistics but found no obvious cause for the increase.

“There is no one target audience we can talk to,” he said. “We’re looking at age, gender, parts of the county … There’s no one common denominator.”

Suicides in the county increased each year from 2011 to 2014 and decreased slightly in 2015 and 2016, according to McLeod and past Chronicle reporting. However, the number jumped back up this year, he said. 



Suicides generally increase during the holiday season, but McLeod said Lewis County has historically not seen a big spike, unlike Las Vegas where he previously worked as a deputy coroner. 

“In Vegas it almost triples between October and February,” he said. 

If officials could determine similarities between the suicides or a common cause, it would be easier to set up a suicide prevention plan, McLeod said. 

The coroner said the county receives numerous 911 calls reporting suicide threats, which he said means people know where to turn for help in a crisis.