To find an autopsy report online, start with the website of the medical examiner or coroner’s office in the county where the death occurred. Many larger offices run searchable databases of completed death investigation records that let you look up a case by name, date of death, or case number and either download the report or submit a request through the site. If the county has no portal, check the state health department or vital records office, then fall back to a formal written request. Whether you’ll actually receive the report depends on the jurisdiction’s public records law, whether any criminal investigation is still open, and whether the report has been finalized.
Start With the County That Has Jurisdiction
Autopsy reports are held by the medical examiner or coroner in the county where the death physically occurred, not the county where the person lived. That distinction matters when someone dies in a hospital, on a trip, or in an accident away from home. Begin your online search with that county’s office.
Larger offices tend to have the most developed online presence. Their portals typically let you search by the decedent’s name, date of death, or case number. Some return the report as a downloadable PDF; others show a case summary and route you to an electronic request form for the full document. Smaller counties often have no portal at all and require a phone call, email, or mailed request form.
If the county office isn’t helpful, look at the state level next. A handful of states centralize death investigation records or link to county offices through a single state portal. Some maintain broader public records databases that pull documents from multiple agencies into one search.
What You Need Before You Search
A few details will save considerable time and let you use the search fields effectively:
- The decedent’s full legal name. Nicknames and shortened names won’t match reliably.
- The date of death, or a narrow range if you’re unsure.
- The city and county where the death occurred, which determines which office holds the file.
- The medical examiner’s case number, if you have one. This is the fastest identifier.
- The decedent’s approximate age, useful for distinguishing common names.
When you don’t know which county has jurisdiction, work from the location of death, not the residence. If those are the same, that’s your starting point.
Searching for Unidentified Remains Through NamUs
If you’re looking for information about an unknown decedent or trying to match a missing person to found remains, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) is a free, federally funded database run by the Department of Justice. It aggregates missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases from across the country.
You can search NamUs by physical description, estimated age range, location where remains were found, manner and cause of death, and distinctive features like tattoos or dental characteristics. Family members of missing persons can enter and search case information directly. The system also provides free forensic services, including DNA analysis, fingerprint examination, and forensic dental comparison, to help resolve cases.
NamUs won’t give you a full autopsy report, but it contains forensic case details and sometimes images that can help identify an unknown decedent or connect a missing person case to unidentified remains. Some case details are restricted from public view, and the site warns that certain content may be graphic.
Why the Report May Not Be Online
Not every autopsy report will appear in a public database, even when your search terms are correct. A few things commonly limit availability.
Reports tied to active criminal investigations are routinely withheld until the case is closed or adjudicated. Releasing details prematurely could compromise the prosecution or defense. Similarly, a report that isn’t finalized can’t be released because it doesn’t exist in final form. Preliminary findings may exist within days of death, but the full written report often takes six to twelve weeks because the pathologist has to wait on toxicology and other lab results.
Sensitive personal information is frequently redacted before release, including medical history of living individuals mentioned in the report and identifying details of certain parties. Some jurisdictions impose stricter access rules when the decedent is a child.
The biggest variable is jurisdiction itself. Some states treat the non-investigatory portion of an autopsy report as freely available to anyone who asks. Others require the requester to be a family member, legal representative, or someone with a court order. A few keep investigative records confidential even after the coroner’s final report is issued, releasing only portions directly quoted in that final report. There is no single national standard. The rules of the county or state where the death occurred are what control your access.
Older reports face a different problem. Most offices haven’t digitized records more than a couple of decades old, so those files exist only in paper archives and require a direct request to retrieve.
How to Request a Report That Isn’t Posted Online
When the report isn’t available through an online portal, you submit a formal records request to the medical examiner or coroner’s office holding it. Most offices have a standard form on their website or will provide one by phone or email.
Include the decedent’s full name, date of death, and any case number you have. Some offices ask for your relationship to the deceased and the reason for the request, particularly in jurisdictions that restrict access. Expect to pay a fee. Fees vary widely, so check the office’s schedule before submitting. Some charge per page, some charge a flat administrative fee, and certified copies with a notary stamp cost more than standard copies.
Response times vary too. At the federal level, the Freedom of Information Act requires agencies to respond within 20 working days.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 552 – Public Information; Agency Rules, Opinions, Orders, Records, and Proceedings State public records laws set their own deadlines, ranging from as few as two business days to as many as 30 days depending on the state. Complex requests or offices with heavy caseloads can take longer, and the office may contact you to narrow the request or clarify fees before processing it.
If the Jurisdiction Restricts Access to Family
Where the law limits access to immediate family or legal representatives, you’ll typically need to provide proof of your relationship to the deceased. That usually means a copy of your ID together with a document showing the familial connection, such as a birth certificate or marriage certificate. Attorneys and insurance companies acting on behalf of the family can generally obtain reports with proper authorization documentation. Without a family connection in a restrictive jurisdiction, your remaining option is a court order.
If Your Request Is Denied
A denial isn’t necessarily final. Offices sometimes deny requests for reasons that can be challenged, including overly broad application of exemptions or failure to properly process the request. Before escalating, call the office and ask exactly why the request was denied. Sometimes the issue is a missing form, an unpaid fee, or wording that was too broad, and a revised submission resolves it.
For federal agencies, FOIA gives you the right to administratively appeal any adverse determination, including denials based on exemptions, claims that records don’t exist, and disputes over fees. You have at least 90 days from the date of the denial to file the appeal, and the agency must decide it within 20 working days.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 552 – Public Information; Agency Rules, Opinions, Orders, Records, and Proceedings If the denial is upheld on appeal, you can seek free mediation through the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), which sits within the National Archives and helps resolve disputes between requesters and agencies without going to court.2Department of Justice. Notifying Requesters of the Mediation Services Offered by OGIS Judicial review remains available after you’ve exhausted the administrative appeal.
For state and local offices, which hold the vast majority of autopsy reports, the appeal path depends on state law. Most states have an administrative appeal mechanism, often through the agency head or a designated open-records officer. Some states have an open government ombudsman or attorney general’s office that reviews public records disputes. If administrative remedies fail, you can petition a court to order the release, though this step typically requires legal representation and involves filing fees.
Autopsy Photographs Follow Different Rules
Even where the written report is freely available, autopsy photographs and video are usually subject to much tighter rules. A majority of states restrict or prohibit public release of visual images from autopsies while still allowing access to the text of the report itself.
The restrictions take different forms. Some states make the images confidential by default, accessible only to surviving family members or through a court order requiring a showing of good cause. Others limit access to law enforcement and professionals who need the images to establish the decedent’s identity. Some states specifically target images depicting dismemberment, mutilation, or other graphic content, treating those as categorically exempt from public disclosure. In states that don’t prohibit access outright, you may be allowed to view photographs at the medical examiner’s office under supervision without being permitted to copy them. For a legal proceeding, a subpoena or court order is the standard mechanism, and the process will take longer and face more scrutiny than a request for the written report alone.
HIPAA Isn’t Usually the Obstacle
A common misconception is that HIPAA blocks access to a deceased person’s records, including autopsy reports. HIPAA does protect individually identifiable health information about a deceased person, but that protection lasts for 50 years after the date of death, not forever. Once someone has been deceased for more than 50 years, their health information falls outside HIPAA’s definition of protected health information entirely.3HHS.gov. Health Information of Deceased Individuals
More importantly, HIPAA includes a specific exception allowing healthcare providers and other covered entities to disclose protected health information to coroners and medical examiners for the purpose of identifying a deceased person or determining a cause of death.4eCFR. 45 CFR 164.512 – Uses and Disclosures for Which an Authorization or Opportunity To Agree or Object Is Not Required Medical examiner and coroner offices are government entities that aren’t themselves “covered entities” under HIPAA, so the rule doesn’t directly restrict what they release. Their disclosure obligations are governed by state public records laws instead.
Private Autopsies Aren’t Public Records
Everything above applies to autopsies performed by or on behalf of a government medical examiner or coroner’s office. Families sometimes hire a private forensic pathologist to perform an independent autopsy, often for a second opinion or when the government didn’t order one. Those reports belong to the family that commissioned them. They aren’t filed with any government agency, aren’t subject to public records laws, and won’t appear in any online database. If the autopsy you’re looking for was privately commissioned, the report is with the family or their attorney, and that’s where the request has to go.