By Rupert Howell

When for the first time Panola County Coroner Gracie Grant-Gullege was faced with an unidentified human skull, she wasn’t sure which direction to turn.

After many hours of research and phone call after phone call, she decided to put the experts she used and law enforcement together so others in her field would have a map to follow should a similar situation arise.

“They got the information up front,” Gullege said. “There’s no need to recreate the wheel.”

Thirty-seven deputies, policeman, coroners and other law enforcement officers from nine counties met with four experts at the Emergency Management Agency office in Sardis Tuesday to add knowledge to their investigation skills.

Gullege has served as Panola’s coroner for 12 years and is serving in the state association as secretary/treasurer for the past two. She plans to use some of the same experts at her association meetings noting that each of the four speakers donated their time.

The eight-hour session will go toward the participants professional training requirements. It was sponsored by the Mid-South Transplant Foundation.

Among the speakers during the session were: Whitney Nichols, criminal justice instructor and former cold case unit director; Dr. Nicholas Herrmann, forensic anthropologist/Ass. professor of Anthropology at  Mississippi State; George Schiro, forensic analysist with Scales Biological Laboratory; and Juanita Graham, Mortality Surveillance Coordinator with Mississippi Department of Health.

Officers and responders from Desoto, Lafayette, Marshall, Panola, Quitman, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tunica and Yalobusha Counties attended.