EDWARDSVILLE - Madison County Coroner Stephen P. Nonn is reporting that Investigator Shelbi Nelsen has earned registry certification and “Diplomate” status as a medicolegal death investigator through the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators (ABMDI) in recent days.

The ABMDI is a voluntary national, not-for-profit, independent professional certification board established to promote professionalism amongst death investigators in coroner and medical examiner jurisdictions throughout the United States. The registry process includes an accumulation of a minimum of 640 hours of death investigation experience, and a skills assessment review by a current member of ABMDI, character and background assessment, and a four-hour written examination with 240 questions.

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“We have always been pleased to have 100 percent basic Diplomate level certification of all of our investigators as soon as they are eligible to take the exam. This onward and upward desire to achieve professionalism is what I want my staff to provide to the citizens of Madison County”, Nonn added.

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Nelsen first joined the staff of the coroner’s office in 2019. She previously served her college internship with the coroner’s office in 2016. She holds a Bachelor degree from Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville with a major in Criminal Justice and a minor in forensic science. She previously worked for the Federal Government.

The next step in this process is receiving the ABMDI Board Certification – Fellow.

This certification process includes successful previous completion of basic certification, a minimum of an Associates college degree, the accumulation of a minimum of 4,000 hours death investigation experience, character and background assessment, and a five and one-half hour written examination in essay and multiple choice format

“We have four of the nineteen advanced Fellow certification investigators in Illinois right here in Madison County”, said Coroner Nonn, “I have to admit that I am very proud of the fact that Madison County has more investigators with the advanced certifications than any other coroner’s or medical examiner’s office in Illinois.

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