GBI Expanding Morgue, With Tragedy In Mind

DECATUR, GA -- The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking to expand its main morgue, with tragedies like the Orlando nightclub shooting in mind.

Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jonathan Eisenstat told WSB-TV that, in such an event, it's his job to get answers for investigators, and victims' families, as quickly as possible.

"I need to be ready as a physician and as a chief medical examiner for the state," Eisenstat said. "But at the same time, I’m a person. I have a family and you just, you never know, it’s very difficult from a personal standpoint."

In April, the state solicited bids for a $5 million expansion and renovation of the morgue at state GBI headquarters, located in Decatur.

The work calls for an expansion of cold storage area for bodies, new offices and work spaces, a conference room, a break room, secured storage areas and two outbuildings.

The morgue currently can hold 50 bodies and, under the expansion, will be able to hold 60 more, according to Eisenstat.

Eisenstat said the expansion is needed because the overall number of deaths his staff must investigate are up, largely due to drug overdoses.

But the horrors of a mass fatality are part of the reasoning, too, he told WSB.

"I went to a meeting where the coroners and funeral directors from Newtown, Connecticut, spoke and it was the most chilling thing that I’ve ever experienced," Eisenstat said.

A new machine called a Lodox also will speed the office's work, Eisenstat said. The machine can conduct a full-body X-ray in 13 seconds.

To see the original report on WSB-TV, click here.