Homicides on the rise, Chief Medical Examiner's Office needs investigators

Homicide cases are increasing in Guam but resources are still lacking at the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office. After budget talks got delayed last week, the cme speaks out on some major concerns that he says is keeping his office from providing the basic standard of service and justice for families of the deceased.
Guam’s homicide cases are on the rise in recent years, with an average of one person killed per month. "The homicide numbers in recent years keep increasing. It used to be one homicide per two months, but in 2024, it’s one homicide per month," noted Dr. Kenny Su, Guam's CME.
The troubling data bleeds into 2025, with already six homicides this year. But without a death investigator to examine bodies at the scene or a vehicle to transport the bodies, the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office is struggling to provide the basic standard of service.
"When I expressed my concern with the shortage of staff here," said he doctor, "usually I get the question of ‘How many staff do you need?, but But my response is then 'What quality do you want?'"
Su is airing concerns after important budget talks got delayed last week. "That’s why we hoped to have this post-mortem committee meeting, to help us to understand or let the public know what we need to do now," he said.
A Commission on Post Mortem Examinations meeting was supposed to be held last Monday, but was postponed to last Thursday after a newspaper failed to publish a public notice of their meeting, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
But the rescheduled meeting was abruptly canceled after its board was unable to make a quorum due to Public Health’s absence.
"I hope that in the future, if someone can not attend it, they should have an alternative staff to do that, and not just cancel the meeting," he stated.
The CME Office is asking for an additional $540,000 this upcoming fiscal year. (Last year’s budget was $820,000.) The funds would cover two investigators, transportation, and repairs for ailing morgue refrigerators.
"If we need to maintain a basic service level, we should have at least two investigators here. So far we have zero," Su said. "That’s a big issue here because what if there’s a homicide outside the field? Who does the body examination and the evidence collection? So far, we have GPD and CSI there, but no one checks the body."
Currently, there are only two employees at the CME Office. Administrative assistant Johanna Bamba is the only other employee.
He continued, 'In recent decades, we rely on the fire department to transport the body. I appreciate them, however it should be our job. It should be the medical examiner’s office to do the transportation. Why? Because there are evidence issues and there are chain of custody issues. But we don’t have the budget or staff to do that."
While the Commission is expected to reschedule the meeting, AG Doug Moylan has asked Senator Telo Taitague, who heads the Legislative Committee on Justice, to introduce legislation to fund the CME Office, which he says she has the authority to do.