Drug-related deaths up 22%, homicides increase by 11% in 2021 El Paso County Coroner’s report

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO)-- The El Paso County Coroner's office has released its annual report for the 2021 year.

Coroner Dr. Leon Kelly says his office has seen an "abnormal increase" in the number of cases the coroner's office has investigated.

The coroner is usually called in when there are sudden or unexpected deaths, and in the past year, the coroner investigated more than 7,000 cases, a 16% increase from 2020.

"The big story is fentanyl," Dr. Kelly says of the frequency. "It felt like days, or every day, that we were pulling those little blue fentanyl pills out of people's pockets," Dr. Kelly said.

Dr. Kelly added that when he started in 2018, El Paso County and the surrounding region had five fentanyl deaths. In 2021, there were 99.

That number is still fewer than amphetamine deaths in the region, despite fentanyl grabbing recent headlines. But drug overdoses aren't the only concerning trend in the 2021 report.

"The next big story is homicides," Dr. Kelly said.

Homicides in 2021 were up 11% from the prior year, and according to the report, the majority of those were carried out by people who knew their victims.

"Most folks think that those who are being murdered are drug dealers or part of a crime, or gang. And that's simply not the truth," Dr. Kelly said. "The largest single category of our homicides last year and the year before is folks being killed by someone in their life, a partner or a boyfriend of some other relative."

So what about changes in population? El Paso County is growing after all. But according to census estimates, it only grew by about 1% last year. 

It's not all bad news in the report, teen suicides, while still a serious issue in and around El Paso County, went down for the third straight year. Sudden deaths among the homeless are down slightly as well.

But in Dr. Kelly's eyes, the most damning part of the report is who is dying from fentanyl.

The average age for fentanyl deaths is 35-years-old, 12 years younger than other drug-related deaths.

"More kids actually died of fentanyl last year than they did of suicide. I think that puts into perspective kind of what we're dealing with here," Dr. Kelly said.

He plans to share the report with lawmakers and local officials in an effort to make the community safer.