 - The year-end report that Coroner Erin Ivie presented to the Fremont County Commission this week showed an increase in accidental deaths locally in 2025.){kind=link}
(Lander, WY) – The year-end report that Coroner Erin Ivie presented to the Fremont County Commission this week showed an increase in accidental deaths locally in 2025.
Fifty-one of the cases the coroner’s office handled last year were accidental deaths, according to Ivie’s report – 12 more than in 2024.
The leading cause of accidental death locally in 2025 was trauma from a fall at 13 cases, Ivie said, noting that “this is the first time in the last 15 years that fall trauma has exceeded motor vehicle trauma.”
Motor vehicle trauma caused 11 of last year’s accidental deaths, she said.
Eleven accidental deaths were also attributed to drug or alcohol toxicity in 2025, she continued, while nine were caused by asphyxia (drowning, positional, or smoke inhalation), two were caused by IV drug use causing sepsis, two were caused by hypothermia, two were caused by animal injury, and one was due to a gunshot wound.
Motor vehicle
Of the 11 motor vehicle deaths recorded in 2025 (up from 10 in 2024), three involved drugs or alcohol, Ivie said.
Only seven of the motor vehicle fatalities involved vehicles equipped with safety restraints, she noted, explaining that one victim was a pedestrian/bicyclist, two were motorcyclists, and one was on an all-terrain vehicle.
Of the seven cases involving vehicles with safety restraints, Ivie said four did not have them in use.
Drugs, alcohol
In 2025, 51 coroner cases (32 percent) and 33 non-natural deaths (49 percent) were related to drugs and alcohol, Ivie said.
Drugs and alcohol were also determined to be a contributing factor in 29 accidental deaths (51 percent) in 2025 – up from 44 percent in 2024, she said.
Alcohol remained the “primary substance of abuse in Fremont County” last year, Ivie said, as it was involved in 32 deaths either as a cause or contributing factor.
Methamphetamine was linked to 12 deaths in 2025, up from 11 in 2024, Ivie said, while fentanyl-related cases increased to four in 2025 – up from one in 2024.
Kratom (mitragynine) was identified in three deaths in 2025 after not appearing in any cases in 2024, she said, and opiates excluding fentanyl were involved in five deaths, up from three the year before.
Totals
In total, there were 311 recorded deaths in Fremont County in 2025 – 38 fewer than in 2024, Ivie told the commission.
Out of that total, she said her office was contacted 174 times for investigation or referral, resulting in 156 coroner cases – roughly half of all deaths countywide and 12 fewer cases than in 2024.
Of those coroner cases, 68 – or 44 percent – were ruled non-natural in manner (accident, homicide, suicide, or undetermined), up from 62 in 2024, she said.
The number of deaths by suicide fell to eight in 2025, Ivie said – five fewer than the year before.
Homicides remained unchanged at seven cases, she said, while two deaths were ruled undetermined, down from three in 2024.
One of the undetermined cases in 2025 involved blunt force trauma, while the other involved skeletal remains, Ivie said.
Location
In terms of geography, Ivie said the coroner’s office responded most frequently to Riverton (61 cases) in 2025, followed by Lander (44).
Other response locations last year included Dubois (11), Fort Washakie (10), Shoshoni (7), Ethete (5), Pavillion (5), Arapahoe (4), Jeffrey City (3), Kinnear (3), Crowheart (1), and Hudson (1).
Eleven cases were at the Wyoming Medical Center in Casper, Ivie said, while 10 cases were at SageWest Health Care at Riverton, six cases were at SageWest Hospital in Lander, two cases were at Health for Health Hospice, and one each were at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, the University of Utah Hospital, and the Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, Colorado.
Eleven cases involved search and rescue operations and/or fire departments, Ivie said, while Wyoming Game and Fish and Wyoming State Parks were involved in one case each.
The coroner’s office completed 37 autopsies for Fremont County in 2025, up from 33 in 2024, and 56 contractual autopsies were completed for surrounding counties – an increase of 14, Ivie said, noting that out-of-county autopsies were temporarily suspended in August due to extreme heat conditions.
Revenue billed for contractual autopsies totaled $114,304 for the year, Ivie said – approximately $28,300 more than in 2024.
To read the entire report, click here.