 - Fremont County Coroner Erin Ivie presented her mid-year report to the Fremont County Commission this week, including a public safety message about a recent increase in local deaths related to fentanyl use.){kind=link}
(Lander, WY) – Fremont County Coroner Erin Ivie presented her mid-year report to the Fremont County Commission this week, including a public safety message about a recent increase in local deaths related to fentanyl use.
Four of the five fentanyl-related fatalities the coroner’s office has responded to so far this year occurred in June, Ivie said – a “huge increase” that prompted her to include the public service announcement in her mid-year report.
“There is no safe way to take illicit fentanyl,” Ivie told the Commission during a regular meeting Tuesday. “Whether you inject it, inhale it, snort it, smoke it, (or) take it as a pill, it’s not safe. And we’re seeing that.”
Some people think illicit fentanyl is safer in pill form, Ivie noted – but when those pills are produced illegally, they are dangerous, too, because “they’re not made in a laboratory – they’re made in somebody’s basement, (so) there could be three grams of fentanyl in one pill, and … one gram in the other.”
Given the dangers involved, Ivie said people who do use illicit fentanyl should ensure they are accompanied by someone who can administer Narcan – an over-the-counter treatment that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
“If you are going to use these drugs … do it with a friend,” she said. “You can’t Narcan yourself if you’re unconscious.”
Drugs, alcohol
There were 151 recorded deaths in Fremont County during the first half of 2025, Ivie said, and the coroner’s office was contacted regarding 85 of those incidents.
From those 85 incidents, Ivie said her office took on 74 cases – and 38 percent of those involved drugs and/or alcohol.
Of the 35 percent of coroner cases that have been determined to be “non-natural” so far this year – due to accident, homicide, suicide, or undetermined – Ivie said 58 percent involved drugs and/or alcohol.
“Drugs or alcohol were confirmed in all three of our homicides and in 11 of our 20 accidents,” she said.
Thirteen natural deaths involved drugs and/or alcohol too, she added.
“Fremont County has a problem with substances,” Court Assisted Supervised Treatment Executive Director Cassie Murray said later in the meeting. “Treatment is important and needed, and jail doesn’t work – that’s evidenced by the number of people who continue to get the same citation. …
“Fremont County as a whole has to continue to look for solutions. If we don’t, we’re going to continue to struggle with the issues that substance use has on our communities.”
Other statistics
No suicide deaths have been recorded so far this year in Fremont County, Ivie said, calling that statistic “astonishing” – especially given that, by this time last year, Fremont County had recorded five suicide deaths.
Twenty accidental deaths have been recorded so far this year in Fremont County, Ivie continued – up by one compared to the same timeframe in 2024 – and there have been three recorded homicides – four less than the first half of 2024.
There has been one undetermined death so far in 2025 – one more than last year at this time, Ivie said – and there have been five motor vehicle deaths – three more than last year at this time.
“Only one of the five – which is still too many – was drug or alcohol related,” she noted.
One of the motor vehicle accidents resulted in a pedestrian bicyclist death, Ivie said, and another resulted in a motorcyclist death.
She concluded her presentation by reporting that her office has able to facilitate tissue and organ donations that saved eight lives and helped treat – and possibly save – an additional 150 people so far this year.
“All the credit goes to those donors and their families,” Ivie said. “(But) we’re honored to be able to find ways to accommodate those final wishes.”
For more information, call the Fremont County Coroner’s Office at (307) 856-7150.