(1) In a death requiring an investigation, no person shall move a human body or body suspected of being human, or remove any of the effects of the deceased or instruments or weapons related to the death without the permission of a medical examiner, medical-legal death investigator or the district attorney.\n(2) No person shall move or remove any of the items specified in subsection (1) of this section if the medical examiner or district attorney objects.\n(3) A medical examiner, district attorney or medical-legal death investigator shall take custody of or exercise control over the body, the effects of the deceased and any weapons, instruments, vehicles, buildings or premises which the medical examiner, district attorney or medical-legal death investigator has reason to believe were involved in the death, in order to preserve evidence relating to the cause and manner of death.\n(4) In a death requiring investigation, no person shall undress, embalm, cleanse the surface of the body or otherwise alter the appearance or the state of the body without the permission of the medical examiner or the district attorney. [1973 c.408 §14; 2017 c.151 §15]
Oregon Legal Code