Westmoreland coroner hires first full-time female deputy

A Southmoreland High School graduate who worked in a Minnesota medical examiner’s office has been hired as the first full-time female deputy coroner in Westmoreland County — which first elected a coroner in 1774, according to historical records.

Cara Shaffer, 30, was hired to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of former deputy coroner John Ackerman, Coroner Timothy Carson said Tuesday. She started Monday and will be paid an annual salary of $51,230.

With Shaffer’s hiring, the office is at its full complement of four full-time deputy coroners, Carson said.

Shaffer, a Hunker-area resident, said Tuesday she left a job as a medical examiner investigator with the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office in Cleveland to return home to the office where she had been an intern in 2012. She said she had been interested in forensic science since she was a youngster watching CSI on television.

“I want to be that person to help those family members on their worst day,” Shaffer said.

She previously was a medical examiner investigator for the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office in Minneapolis for three years. During her time there, the office was involved in the investigation into the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died May 25, 2020, when police Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for about 9½ minutes.

She recalled how the medical examiner’s office was moved to a secret location during the riots and protests after Floyd’s death.

Shaffer also worked for the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office in Ramsey, Minn.

Shaffer graduated from West Virginia University in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree, specializing in forensic investigative science.

She holds registry status as a diplomate with the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators, which is a certification for death investigators.

She will attend the Pennsylvania State Coroners’ Education Board’s basic education course next time it is offered, Carson said.