Tragedy hits home for Arapahoe County coroner

Arapahoe County Coroner Michael Dobersen

Dobersen’s office conducted autopsies on 12 victims

By Peter Jones

Arapahoe County Coroner Michael Dobersen, M.D., a forensic pathologist who has investigated cases ranging from the Columbine shootings to the 1996 murders in a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant, says last week’s massacre at Century 16 theaters in Aurora was the most devastating he has worked in his own jurisdiction.

“Certainly, Chuck E. Cheese was terrible. Columbine was terrible, but the sheer magnitude of what happened in Aurora is hard to assimilate.  The way I feel right now, this is the worst,” the coroner said.

When Dobersen, gets a late-night phone call, it is never good.

On July 20 at 3 a.m., the coroner got