The cost of being murdered in ocean county: commissioners approve over $2 million in new medical examiner contracts

TOMS RIVER, N.J. – Ocean County officials have approved a series of professional service contracts totaling more than $1 million to support the operations of the County Medical Examiner’s Office through next year. The contracts, contingent upon adoption of the 2026 temporary and full county budgets, cover a range of postmortem, laboratory, and funeral home services.

Under the resolutions, NMS Labs will provide postmortem toxicology laboratory services for the medical examiner’s office at a cost not to exceed $268,000 for the period of January 1 through December 31, 2026. The Jewish Burial Society of New Jersey was also awarded a specialized funeral home services contract valued at up to $30,000 for the same term.

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Five additional funeral homes — Kedz Funeral Home, Colonial Funeral Home, Tilghman Funeral Home, Oliverie Funeral Home, and Bayshore Removal Service LLC — were approved collectively for up to $440,000 to handle general funeral home services for county cases throughout 2026.

The county awarded contracts for forensic pathology specialists for $700,000 and a forensic dental professional for $20,000.

The county also awarded Community Medical Center, Inc. a contract not to exceed $400,000 to perform autopsy medical testing and related laboratory work. Rounding out the awards, Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus, also known as RWJ Barnabas, will provide virtual autopsy services under a separate $30,000 agreement.

All five contracts will run for the full 2026 calendar year and will only take effect following formal budget adoption by the Ocean County Board of Commissioners.

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