The Clark County coroner’s office, which investigates all deaths that are sudden, unexpected, unattended or caused by violence or non-natural causes, saw a rise in cases in 2024.
While the population of Clark County grew at a rate of more than 1 percent in 2024, Melanie Rouse, the Clark County coroner, said that her office saw an increase in the number of deaths it investigated of around 14 percent.
This increase was largely driven by deaths that were ruled an accident and is likely due to an increase in drug and heat-related fatalities, Rouse said.
More deaths reported
The county saw around a 70 percent increase in heat-related fatalities, which are classified as accidental deaths, Rouse said. She added that the combination of drugs and heat may be a factor.
While the final toll of victims of Las Vegas’ deadly heat was still being counted, over the summer, more than 400 deaths were determined to have been heat-related — with the heat either being the primary cause of death or a contributing factor — as temperatures reached records.
Meanwhile, fentanyl-related fatalities were on the rise as well. “We see more and more fentanyl becoming the drug of choice,” Rouse said.
Likely, the overall increase in deaths investigated by the coroner’s office reflects “both the drugs in our community as well as an increase in our population and visitors,” Rouse said. “As the population increases, so does our case volume.”
The coroner’s office provided dataincluding the cause and manner of death for more than 3,600 deaths where the legal next of kin was notified, but the coroner said that her office investigated more than 6,000 deaths in 2024.
Homicides trend down
Other statistics show perhaps worrying trends — the victims of homicides and suicides don’t match the broader demographics of Clark County.
In 2024, homicides trended down. While Rouse said the final count was not yet available, the data suggests there were more homicides in 2023.
Athar Haseebullah, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, said that it’s important to recognize this downward trend, especially as Clark County’s population grows.
But while around 13 percent of all Clark County residents are Black, disproportionately, homicide figures being tallied for 2024 showed that about 39 percent of homicide victims in the county were Black.
As the community works to continue to lower this number, it’s important to be intentional about solutions, said Quentin Savwoir, president of the Las Vegas Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
“Homicide overall is terrible,” Savwoir said. When homicide is disproportionately impacting one specific community, “it requires us to do a little bit of deeper digging,” he said.
Haseebullah said that when data shows some people are disproportionately victims of a crime, “it’s incredibly concerning.”
But, the data “won’t tell the entire story,” he said, and needs to be examined in a broader public safety context.
Another demographic disproportionately represented in the data was men: 78 percent of the people who died by suicide were male. This mirrors statistics nationally. While men make up 50 percent of the population, they account for 80 percent of suicides, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Men are more likely to succeed at committing suicide over their female counterpart,” Rouse said.
Raising awareness
For Rouse, the coroner’s office performs an important public health service. “The most important thing about what we do is we’re laying out information to our public,” she said.
The dangers of fentanyl and the importance of having Naloxone — a medicine that reverses an opioid overdose — on hand are important pieces of information that Rouse said she wants shared with the public.
And during the hot summer months, “it’s important for people to think about the heat and take extra steps to ensure that they stay well hydrated,” Rouse said.
If you’re thinking about suicide, or are worried about a friend or loved one, help is available 24/7 by calling or texting the Lifeline network at 988. Live chat is available at 988lifeline.org. Additionally, the Crisis Text Line is a free, national service available 24/7. Text HOME to 741741.
Contact Estelle Atkinson at eatkinson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @estelleatkinson.bsky.social on Bluesky and @estellelilym on X.
