Rutherford County committee forwards plan for county forensic center after multi‑agency presentations

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — On Feb. 25, 2025, the Rutherford County Health and Education Committee voted to forward a proposal to build a county forensic center to the full County Commission with a positive recommendation, after hearing detailed presentations on need, design, costs and expected operational savings.

The committee heard from Eric Hennessy, Rutherford County chief of staff, who introduced the proposal and asked the panel to hear from the county’s medical‑legal death investigator, EMS leadership, architects and the sheriff’s office before asking the commission to act.

The proposal responds to a Tennessee Department of Health feasibility study and local officials’ complaints about capacity and timeliness at the Middle Tennessee Regional Forensic Center in Nashville. "All authority rests at the county level for medical legal death investigations in the state of Tennessee," Denise Martin, Rutherford County supervisor of death investigations, told the committee, citing the study and national guidance. She said the Nashville center’s current facility size and staffing fall short of recommendations and that the region is "urgently" in need of another center.

Martin described operational and public‑health consequences cited in the feasibility study, saying the regional center’s "insufficient staffing," limited storage and high caseload "pose a critical vulnerability in the provision" of forensic services for the region. She also noted written support for a Rutherford County facility from several counties, hospital systems and legal offices.

Brian Gaither, director of Rutherford County EMS, told commissioners that EMS supervisors currently spend hours conducting death investigations because there is not 24‑hour medical examiner coverage. He said this work "adds unnecessary stress and contributes to burnout and potential PTSD" among EMS staff and argued that specialized investigators…