Emma Hall, Boulder County’s coroner, has announced her resignation after an internal investigation this summer revealed a pervasive negative work environment in the office she ran.

Boulder Reporting Lab first reported the investigation, which showed that the office handling County death investigations was rife with antagonism, favoritism, and leadership problems.

Hall’s last day will be January 11, 2024. First elected in 2010, she took over office management in 2011. Hall could have sought reelection in 2026, for a fifth and final term.

As Coroner, Hall is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the Coroner’s Office as well as the daily management of cases. She is ultimately responsible for the determination of cause and manner of death for the cases where the office takes jurisdiction.

Emma Hall is a Boulder County native who grew up in Lyons on Hall Ranch. She comes from a pioneer family that has been part of Boulder County since the 1870s. She is a graduate of Niwot High School and Metropolitan State College of Denver, with a degree in criminalistics.

Her background includes experience and training in death investigation, autopsies and forensic pathology, crime scene investigation, evidence analysis, elder abuse, child death investigation, blood stain pattern analysis, forensic anthropology, mass fatalities and emergency management, and aquatic death and homicidal drowning.

She is a certified Death Investigator and a member of the Colorado Coroner’s Association.

According to a statement released by the County, once the office becomes vacant in January, the Board of County Commissioners can appoint a new coroner. The interim coroner would then serve until the end of Hall’s term in January 2027.

In an email addressed to Boulder County community members on December 14, Hall, 46, said she was resigning to spend more time with her family. She extended her “sincere gratitude to the Boulder County community for their unwavering support over the past 13 years.”

This past summer, the Boulder County Human Resources Department hired an independent firm to conduct an investigation into multiple complaints against Hall. According to Julia Larsen, the director of Boulder County’s human resources department, the County investigated the complaints because some of them included “a discriminatory basis” for the first time.

The County formally investigates reports by employees of sexual harassment, discrimination, or retaliation. The firm investigated 11 claims against Hall and confirmed five of them: favoritism, antagonism, micromanagement, using County purchase cards belonging to other employees for office purchases, and adopting multiple “personas.”

Witness testimonies included in the investigative report alleged Hall made employees accompany her on personal errands, went through employees’ desks unannounced, and caused her employees to feel as though they were powerless because “as an elected official, she is untouchable and she can do whatever she wants.”

Chief Deputy Coroner Jeff Martin confirmed this information. Hall did not return calls from The Mountain-Ear.