Kittitas County Coroner Passes Away With 14 Months Remaining In Term

The first-ever elected coroner in Kittitas County's history has died.

On Thursday, County officials announced that Nick Henderson had passed away earlier this week but did not offer any details surrounding his death.

Henderson, who was still in the midst of his third term, became the County's first coroner to win public election in 2015 and was responsible for the founding of the Coroner's Office in Kittitas County.

Get our free mobile app

The Ellensburg Daily Record reports he worked closely with multiple law enforcement, emergency response, and public health agencies, and funeral homes while serving as coroner.

At a special meeting of the Kittitas County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday, Commissioner Laura Osiadacz said Henderson's passing has created "really unfortunate circumstances,” and went on to say, “there’s probably a lot of shock throughout the Kittitas County family. My condolences go out to any of his (Henderson's) co-workers, friends or family members.”

Henderson was most recently re-elected to the post in 2022 and his current term was set to expire at the end of next year.

All flags in the county were ordered by commissioners to be at half-staff through Thursday (Oct. 23) in honor of Henderson's service to the public.

In the wake of Henderson's passing, Chief Deputy Coroner Cori McKean was unanimously approved by commissioners to serve as the county's interim coroner.

He will manage the daily operations of the office until a new interim coroner is appointed, ahead of the election of a new permanent coroner next November.