CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and its two spinoffs, CSI: Miami and CSI: New York, have been credited with inspiring many young people to choose careers in forensics and related law enforcement areas.

One of the latest is Amanda Barnett, who at the young age of eighteen has become the youngest certified death investigator in Indiana. Barnett, whose father Mark Barnett is a coroner in their home region of Jay County, says it was not only watching her father at work for the last fifteen years that inspired her career decision, but also her love of CSI, the hit show on CBS, now in its seventh season.


After accompanying her father to many coroners’ conventions over the years, she decided to take classes and test to certify as a coroner herself. Since she was only seventeen, Amanda had to get special permission to take a certification class. The class involved attending an autopsy and submitting case reports, and she managed to score 97 on the final test.

Amanda says her friends think it’s “kind of weird."

"To other people it's disgusting, but I think it's interesting, and somebody's got to do it."

Amanda hasn’t even graduated from high school yet, but she’s already a deputy coroner for her father’s office. Her father says he likes having her along on his investigations, and accompanied her on her first calls on her own.

"I'll ask her what she's doing and why," Mark Barnett said. "She might catch something that I don't think of."

Lisa Barker, executive director of the Indiana training board said of the young Barnett’s aspirations, "I think it's great that someone her age is interested in the field."

After graduation, Amanda says she hopes to take more courses and attend college programs to become a forensic nurse examiner.


-Mel, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Associated Press
Photo credit: CBS