Updated: Durkin retiring as Butte-Silver Bow coroner with lawsuit still pending

Butte-Silver Bow Coroner Lori Durkin, who went on paid leave in late January because of a pending negligence lawsuit, is retiring on Nov. 7.

A family sued Butte-Silver Bow County and Durkin in January, alleging among other things that her office allowed a loved one’s body to decompose to the point it compromised a medical exam.

John Morgan, chairman of the Butte-Silver Bow Council of Commissioners, announced Durkin’s retirement Wednesday night. He said the job will be posted soon and the council will interview candidates in public on Nov. 5 and appoint a successor.

The coroner is an elected position but like other county elected offices, commissioners appoint someone to fill a vacancy until the next general election.

Durkin was elected to a second, four-year term as coroner in November. Whoever is chosen to replace her would have to win election in November 2026 to keep the position and run again two years later if he or she wanted a full four-year term.

Morgan said he was notified of Durkin’s retirement on Tuesday. Dan Hollis has been acting coroner since Durkin went on paid leave, but he is not interested in serving on a permanent basis, Morgan said.

County officials said Durkin voluntarily went on paid administrative leave in late January while the county investigated allegations made in the lawsuit. She has been paid $31,976 since then, according to the county.

The family of 32-year-old Caleb Boelman filed the lawsuit. Boelman died unexpectedly in his home on Aug. 10, 2024. He was only 32 and there were no outward or obvious signs indicating how he might have died.

The lawsuit says Durkin’s office allowed the body to suffer significant decomposition prior to a medical exam, compromising an autopsy and “grotesquely disfiguring the body.”

It also says Durkin’s office misled family members by saying Boelman had alcohol, methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl and a “sex drug” in his system and likely died of an overdose, only to say a day later that none of those drugs were found in his system.

Butte-Silver Bow has denied many of the claims, but the case is still pending, according to court records. Durkin has denied public comment on the matter, referring questions to the county attorney.

Caleb Boelman’s husband, Doug Ingraham, told commissioners he was heartsick over the ordeal and there were “utter and repeated wrongs” inflicted on Boelman after he died.

But he said he and his attorney, Cathy Tutty, had attempted to work cooperatively with Butte-Silver Bow to resolve questions and possible oversights and he was not part of the lawsuit against the county.

But he has since filed a motion to join the lawsuit. The case is essentially on hold until a judge rules on that motion, according to the latest court records.