Charlie Hunter left the Calcasieu Parish Coroner’s Office earlier this year, but he’s still living his dream, investigating death. Now, he’s added cemetery restoration, digital forensics and forensic training to the mix. Hunter recently parlayed his experience and 20 years as Chief Investigator and Director of Operations into Gulf Coast Forensics, a company he began in 2020.

“I realized that to make this business thrive, I would have to devote more time to it,” he said. “We’re still working to return several cemeteries to pre-Hurricane Laura, Hurricane Delta conditions,” Hunter said. “That can include tree removal, headstone repairs or replacements, vault or casket replacement and reburial of remains.”

Gulf Coast Forensic Solutions will offer training to assist law enforcement and other agencies with death scene investigation and water-related, infant and opioid death investigation.

Law enforcement officers can enroll in workshops to learn more about homicide investigation, digital forensics, criminal intelligence, active shooter response, fingerprinting basics and basic crime scene investigation through GCFS.

Emergency response and public service training includes forensic nursing and disaster planning, preparedness and response.

“Digital forensics is a branch of forensic science encompassing the recovery, investigation, examination and analysis of material found in mobile devices and computers,” Hunter explained. “Our nationally certified examiners also provide these services to private citizens, attorneys and large corporations to further their cases in the recovery
of lost or stolen digital
information.”

Digital forensics can be crucial to cases involving divorce and custody cases, in which digital evidence from phones and other electronic devices can contain vital information to be used in court. The GCFS Certified Digital Forensic Examiner can recover and examine deleted text messages, call logs, social media activity, internet activity, documents, map and GPS locations, emails, images and videos.

“Law enforcement agencies, as well as medicolegal death investigators and coroners, are required to stay up to date on the latest technology and investigative techniques. Our instructors are certified and courses are geared toward the latest techniques, laws and processes.”