UIndy Criminal Justice Professor Kerria Carter Elected Johnson County Coroner

The day before she was set to become Johnson County’s new coroner, Kerria Carter ’04 (Criminal Justice) was lying in the emergency room at St. Francis Hospital.

The criminal justice professor was on her way to the University of Indianapolis for the first day of school. Carter was going through her first lecture in her head when a semi-truck slammed into her car.

She was understandably scared, but when her husband, Scott, arrived at the crash scene, she wasn’t crying. It was when she was in the ER that the tears started pouring in. 

“It’s okay. You can replace your car,” he told her.

“But I’m missing class,” Carter replied.

“Honestly, that’s what I was thinking about,” she said. “I was thinking about my students sitting there not knowing that I’m not coming. That’s what made me sad.”

Carter received a text from the Johnson County sheriff, asking if she was ok, and a phone call from the GOP chairwoman, making sure she’d still attend the caucus. 

“I didn’t know if I was going to need surgery on my feet at that time, or if I would be able to walk, or if I needed my husband to carry me up there,” said Carter. “But as the day went on, I decided, ‘I will be there, no matter what.’”

When the ceremony came that Wednesday, she was indeed there, with a walking boot strapped to her foot, while still showing up for class the rest of the week.

The sequence of events may seem extraordinary, but resilience and a willingness to step into uncomfortable settings have defined Carter’s career and personal journey.

She arrived on UIndy’s campus as a nursing major, but admits she “didn’t do so hot in organic chemistry,” so she went searching for another career path. Her love for solving puzzles drew her to criminal justice, which she instantly fell in love with. “I want to figure out who did it, why they did it, all of that — I was the nosy neighbor. It was a perfect fit for me.”

Carter was able to scratch that puzzle-solving itch as an investigator for the Attorney General’s Office and a crime scene investigator for the Franklin Police Department in Johnson County.

In her favorite class to teach, which is unsurprisingly a crime scene investigation course, students participate in real-life labs for two hours a week. Carter tries to base all of the lab examples on real crime scenes she’s worked on. 

The approach has paid off for students during internships and job shadowing. This past summer, she had one student intern with the Warwick County Sheriff’s Office and another with the Shelbyville Coroner’s Office. They returned to tell Carter that the detectives and other coroners were surprised that they had actually been taught to that level — rather than just theories.

While she loves true-crime documentaries, Carter gets aggravated by the way television shows like CSI and Criminal Minds depict crime investigations, routinely saying out loud, “That’s not possible. You cannot do that in two hours.”

Although popular media can exaggerate certain aspects of law enforcement, Carter admits that it was intimidating when she first arrived on scene. Lights flashing, sirens blaring, and people crying. Despite the commotion, Carter was always able to narrow in and do her job. “You’re there to find an answer for the families,” said Carter. “Giving them closure, that’s what it’s really all about.

In recent years, Carter started missing working those scenes and interacting with families. That’s why she planned to run for Johnson County coroner in 2028, spending a year as a deputy coroner. Unforeseen circumstances, however, forced the previous coroner to resign, prompting an early caucus. 

“I had been doing things on a slower scale because, in my mind, I still had a year or two before I’d actually have to consider running,” she said. “I was just getting my feet wet, and then I jumped in.”

She was once again willing to step into the uncomfortable and change the direction of the coroner’s office. “It hasn’t always been positive in the last few years, so I wanted to try to help families in a more respectful manner than has been done in the past,” said Carter.

Her appointment also marked another trailblazing milestone, as she became the first female coroner in Johnson County.

Criminal justice has become one of UIndy’s most popular fields of study. Carter, who teaches a criminalistics class with 11 female students, said the field has opened new opportunities for women pursuing careers in criminal justice. 

“As a professor, one of the most meaningful parts of this milestone is knowing that my female Criminal Justice students are watching,” she said. “I hope they see that there is a place for women in every part of this profession.”

Carter will have to endure many late nights as she balances her roles as a professor and coroner, teaching Monday through Friday before heading to the coroner’s office after class.

But what truly makes it worth it isn’t just her barrier-breaking milestone or scratching that puzzle-solving itch. The thing she is most excited about, however, is bringing students to the coroner’s office as interns, for job shadowing, and field trips. 

Whether she is standing in front of a classroom, investigating a crime scene, or sitting with a grieving family, Carter’s work continues to center on helping others. And even on the day a semi-truck turned her plans upside down, her first thought was still about her students.