Two candidates with medical backgrounds are vying to lead the Pueblo County Coroner's Office, where trust, qualifications and conflicts of interest are defining the race.
A county coroner election doesnt typically get much attention, but Pueblo Countys race is being watched closely after the office faced its own scandal in 2025. Previous coroner Brian Cotter resigned from the office after investigators discovered 24 bodies improperly stored inside a funeral home, Davis Mortuary, which he co-owned with his brother Chris. The brothers were arrested in June of this year.
Two people are looking to voters to give them the job: Republican Greg Grahek, who was appointed to the position in September 2025, and Democratic candidate Zolanye McCulley-Bachicha. Both have medical backgrounds, but argue they have different qualifications.
QUALIFICATIONS
Up until 2024, Colorado had very few requirements for people seeking elected coroner offices. Candidates simply needed to be 18 years old with at least a high school diploma not a felon, and registered to vote in the county they ran in. A few counties in Colorado have appointed coroners or medical examiners, which includes Denver, Weld, and Pitkin counties.
In 2024, state lawmakers passed a bill requiring coroner candidates in larger counties to either be a board certified Forensic Pathologist or a certified death investigator through the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators (ABMDI). Pueblo County was included in that legislation, but a bill passed in 2026 lowered the county population threshold for those requirements.
After Cotters resignation, there was only one other certified death investigator who applied to replace him, it was his deputy coroner Felicia McQueen.
Greg Grahek was selected by Pueblo County Commissioners to replace Cotter after his resignation, and at the time he didnt have ABMDI certification. He has since become certified and touts his lengthy medical background and his experience in the last year as the appointed coroner as why hes qualified for the position.
Grahek argues anyone wanting to run for the office has time to get certified by the time theyre nominated by their political party.
"It's an obligation that if you're going to be running an office, need to know everything that is possibly available out there," Grahek said, "I mean, it's not just going up and picking up the body. That's what you might experience when the coroner's involved with you as a citizen. But on the back end, we've reviewed your medical records, we've pulled historical data, we're trying to look at family connections.
Grahek also runs a family medical clinic in Pueblo and holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice, in addition to other medical certifications and licenses.
McCulley-Bachicha is not a certified death investigator, but says she will seek the certification the same way Grahek did, while being employed by the coroners office. When asked if McCulley-Bachicha had sought employment at the coroners office in the last year she said she had not.
The democratic candidate previously ran for county coroner in 2022 and lost to Cotter by about 3,300 votes. Shes a registered nurse working for a surgical center and also works for her familys funeral home. McCulley-Bachicha also served on Pueblo City Council for six months after being appointed to the seat after Ray Aguileras death in 2021.
She says her experience in the death care industry is one pice of her qualifications for the elected office.
"People are they are experiencing the most difficult time of their lives and when they're in the coroner's office it's usually because it's unexpected one and it's tragic and I've seen people in that position many times for over thirty years," McCulley-Bachicha said
RESTORING TRUST
After the tragedy at Davis Mortuary, one area both candidates agree is that restoring trust is a priority for the coroners office.
McCulley-Bachicha said one way she hopes to do that if elected is by conducting an audit.
I think it's really important to also have someone else, an outsider looking in, help you develop and do better for the office, McCulley-Bachicha said adding that she would look to other coroners offices to conduct the audit.
When asked about how the audit would be funded, she pointed to developing relationships with other coroners offices.
I think because of what has happened in Colorado we all want to work together at this point. No one's going to charge the Pueblo County coroner's office this astronomical amount, but I also think that Pueblo County wants to make sure that their community members can trust this office again. Unfortunately this office has benefited from flying under the radar and people really not thinking of death and that's a problem, McCulley-Bachicha said.
Since Grahek took office, an annual report was produced by the coroners office, but McCulley-Bachicha said she felt it was vague and by adding more information it would help restore trust.
I think I would have been more detailed, she said, there's a lot more work that we need to do that needs to be more detailed in order to best put those resources in those areas of need.
Grahek said hes focused on rebuilding trust in the last year hes served as coroner and he wants to build on the work hes done by increasing transparency. He pointed to changes hes made like having staff drive unmarked vehicles.
It's big, its intimidating, I think that makes people nervous, especially in a situation where you see this horrible tragedy happen, Grahek said. Hes also made changes like having employees where uniforms.
At two o'clock in the morning something horrific happened and we have to notify you of a loved one, showing up in jeans and a t shirt probably is not appropriate," Grahek said.
He said he hopes the coroners office will have more of a relationship with the community.
I really encourage the public to come in, especially after the election, regardless of whoever is coroner, because it is important to understand.
In an attempt to connect with the community last year, Grahek had promoted a halloween event at the coroners office. He canceled it after criticism from community members.
If I could go back in time, because of the nature of Halloween, I probably would have not done that, Grahek said, that's the other about thing being transparent is you own your own your mistakes, don't hide them, don't don't shirk from them, don't ever shirk from your responsibilities.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
One of the more defining themes in this race is conflicts of interest, both with relationships and time.
Grahek runs a family medical clinic, and when he was first appointed concerns were brought up over his commitment to the coroners office.
"My clinic is, at best, part-time. I've been in medicine for 20 years, my practice was slowing down with the intention to expand," Grahek said. "I'm only a five hour sleeper. I've always been that way. I mean, literally, if you look at the hours, I mean, I probably spend 20 hours a week, 25 hours a week on my clinic.
McCulley-Bachicha works for her familys funeral home, she said she does not own it, and as a nurse at a surgical center, she said if shes elected she will resign from both of those positions and the coroners office will be her sole priority.
Full time means being present in that office every day. Not only work at my family's funeral home I also work at a surgical center, as a nurse so people they seem to forget that a lot too, but both positions I would, file my resignation and, be a full time coroner. I won't have any other employment that's what I mean by full time," McCulley-Bachicha said.
She argued Pueblo County has not had anyone in recent history dedicated to the office completely as theyve held other jobs.
Concerns have also come up over McCulley-Bachichas connection to her familys funeral home,. Colorado law says it is considered a conflict of interest for a county coroner to work, be employed, or have a financial interest in a funeral home, but it does not disqualify them from running for the office. The law says county coroners in that position cannot direct business to the funeral home they have an interest in.
The standard protocol in Pueblo County has been to give families a pamphlet of all funeral homes.
"The coroner's office, their role is not to choose a funeral home for families. That's a family's decision to choose a funeral home that they feel comfortable with, that they trust," McCulley-Bachicha said.
When asked what she would say to someone meeting with her who felt overwhelmed by the number of funeral homes on the pamphlet and didn't know how to choose she said she would tell them to call each of them and figure out which one theyre most comfortable with.
While Grahek does not own or work for a funeral home, he has received endorsements from people who own funeral homes.
Were two separate entities, the two should not intertwine, Grahek said, when asked if his endorsements give the appearance of preference to a funeral home he said no, I mean because youre endorsed by the individual, not the corporation.
BUDGET DEFICIT
Pueblo County is also facing a $10 million budget deficit and cuts will be needed for departments across the county. How and where to cut is an area that McCulley-Bachicha and Grahek differ.
Grahek said in the last year, the office has already had to make adjustments, but instead of cuts, hes made adjustments elsewhere.
We moved expenses from office to training which can we get free training? Can we, offset those kind of things? Grahek said, adding theyve looked at small adjustments that have added up overtime on equipment, he brought up driving a gurney to get repaired in Denver versus paying for shipping costs.
Both candidates agreed there are areas, specifically with investigations that the office cannot cut costs on.
McCulley-Bachicha said she wants to look at other expenses to cut, maybe we don't need as many vehicles as we have and we don't need a transport service where and that's what I had seen in the budget, in the past when I went up for appointment like we were paying for a transport service, why?
The Pueblo County Coroners Office currently operates out of two buildings: a new building at 1300 N Santa Fe, and the previous building on Midtown Circle Drive, which is where the refrigerator or chiller is. There are plans to eventually move into one building.
"I think that the taxpayers would love to spend money on the fact that they can trust an office versus an office that's sitting there currently that has not seen a deceased person with a rent of $33,000 a month and that's not a mortgage; that's rent of $33,000 a month," McCulley-Bachicha said when she brought up wanting to pay for an audit if she's elected.
In a debate earlier this month, Grahek said the cost of the building was due to a triple-net lease the county is in with the owner of the building. A triple-net lease means the county also pays for maintenance and insurance, among other costs.
According to Pueblo County budget documents, the lease began in 2022 during Cotter's leadership. The monthly rent cost for the building was originally $21,120. The agreement requires an annual increase of $8,448 each year with the option to purchase the building beginning in 2025. The purchase price increases $50,000 each year the county does not decide to purchase it.
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