'We're trending in the right direction:' County reports fewer murders, overdoses, suicides in 2023

May 14—CHAMPAIGN — Champaign County saw fewer murders, overdoses and suicides in 2023 compared to 2022.

Champaign County Coroner Stephen Thuney announced that finding in his office's annual report compiling the causes of all last year's deaths.

The investigation found there were a total of 1,913 deaths in 2023, a near 9 percent drop compared to the 2,102 deaths recorded in 2022.

Notably, Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana acts as a regional trauma center for approximately nine other surrounding counties — so if someone is injured in another county and they die at Carle, their passing is recorded as a Champaign County death.

Of those 1,913 deaths, 73 percent, or 1,403 were Champaign County residents.

There were 16 homicides in 2023, a 23 percent drop compared to the 21 homicides in 2022.

While every homicide is a tragedy, last year's murder rate stands in stark contrast to the 33 homicides Champaign County experienced in 2021, 30 of which were caused by guns.

Of the 2023 homicides, 11 were caused by gunshot wounds, four were stabbings and one was blunt force trauma.

All those murdered were males, in ages ranging from 15 to 59.

Twelve were Black, three were White, and one was Hispanic.

There were 32 suicide deaths in 2023, a 21 percent drop compared to the 41 suicides in 2022.

Men accounted for 21 of last year's suicide deaths, and women accounted for 11, in ages ranging from 21 to 88.

Champaign County's suicide rate is still higher than where it sat on average before the pandemic, Thuney noted.

There were 158 deaths caused by accidents in 2023, a 12 percent drop compared to the 180 accidental deaths in 2022.

Of those 2023 accidental deaths, 32 were from motor vehicle accidents, 54 were illicit drug overdoses, six were prescription medicine overdoses, 41 were overdoses involving more than one substance, 91 were blunt force trauma, one was a drowning, and six fell in other categories.

A total of 64 falls accounted for the majority of the blunt force trauma deaths, and 42 cases of fentanyl played a role in the majority of the illicit drug overdoses.

The coroner attributed the wide decreases, in part, to the county continuing to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and the local organizers who have endeavored to reduce gun violence and drug abuse.

"There's all kinds of community groups that are out working with our youth and trying to get them to understand that guns aren't the way to solve problems," Thuney said.

"We have all kinds of groups involved in trying to effect the drug abuse problem in our community."

"Unfortunately, I'm on the back end of it for most of it, so those groups really need to be brought up as, 'You guys are doing a good job, obviously there's a decrease,'" the coroner said.

"We're trending in the right direction."