KRS 72.020: Duty of person, hospital, or institution finding or possessing dead body --

Duties of coroner, law enforcement officer, embalmer, funeral director, or

ambulance service.

(1) Any person, hospital, or institution, finding or having possession of the body of any

person whose death occurred under any of the circumstances defined in subsections

(1) through (12) of KRS 72.025, shall immediately notify the coroner, or his deputy,

and a law enforcement agency, which shall report to the scene within a reasonable

time. No person shall remove the body or remove anything from the body until

directed to do so by the coroner or his deputy, after the law enforcement agency is

present or has failed, within a reasonable period of time, to respond.

(2) The coroner shall take possession of any objects, medical specimens, or articles

which, in his opinion, may be helpful in establishing the cause of death, and he can

make or cause to be made such tests and examinations of said objects as may be

necessary or useful in determ ining the cause of death. In the event that a criminal

prosecution arises, all such objects and articles together with reports of any

examinations made upon them, shall be retained by the coroner until their

production in evidence is required by the prosec uting authority, unless otherwise

directed by written order of the court in which such prosecution is pending.

(3) Upon final disposition of each criminal prosecution under this section, the court

shall by appropriate written order dispose of all objects retained under the

provisions of this section.

(4) If the law enforcement officer at the scene has probable cause to believe that one of

the conditions in subsection (1) of this section exists and the coroner refuses to

require a post -mortem examination, the officer shall immediately notify the county

or Commonwealth attorney who may proceed pursuant to KRS 72.445.

(5) In all cases listed under KRS 72.025 in which a licensed embalmer, funeral director,

or ambulance service is notified and is the first per son at the scene of death other

than private citizens, he shall notify the coroner and if the death appears to fall

within the categories established in subsections (1) through (12) of KRS 72.025, he

shall notify a local law enforcement agency.