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The study consisted of two collection phases: Phase 1: The first step was to use information from the California County Coroner's Offices to compile data on elder deaths and understand the processes employed in decision making. This data came from case data shared by participating coroner/medical examiner (CME) offices, publicly available data on elder deaths, and both phone and in-person interviews with CME investigators from participating offices. The second step was to develop a 'best practice' brief questionnaire or Elder Suspicious Death Field Screen (ESDFS), to assist county coroner's offices in their decision making regarding taking jurisdiction and investigating an elder death. Phase 2: This phase consisted of the pilot test and evaluation of the effectiveness of the ESDFS in a selected subset of California counties. One-on-one training of each CME Investigator on the use of the ESDFS was performed and then ESDFS was implemented in three counties for a six-month data collection period. An expert panel known as Longitudinal Experts All Data (LEAD) panel reviewed a subsample of cases to assess whether CME investigators made appropriate decisions to investigate or not. Two alternative Satisfaction Surveys were also used: one for CME Investigators who used the ESDFS throughout the pilot study and the other (the Alternate Satisfaction Survey) for those who failed to use the ESDFS or stopped using it before the end of the pilot study. The latter survey administered in the form of a structured interview consisted largely of questions about barriers to implementation of the ESDFS. To wrap up the project, satisfaction surveys were administered on site as structured interviews with the investigators. The interviews were recorded and transcribed.