EDITORIAL: Exporting Dignity — The High Cost of the AG’s Silence
The High Cost of "Coming Soon": An interior look at the St. Croix modular morgue facility in January 2026. Despite Attorney General Gordon Rhea’s public promise of an April 10 "Go-Live" date, the interior shows a hollow shell of exposed ductwork and FEMA tarps. While the facility sits unfinished, St. Croix continues to outsource its deceased to off-island jurisdictions.
By THE ST. CROIX SUN EDITORIAL BOARD
They say the math doesn’t lie, but in the case of the St. Croix morgue, the calendar is telling a very ugly truth.
In January, Attorney General Gordon Rhea promised the Territory that by April 10, 2026, the modular morgue at Golden Grove would be "assembled and operable." It was a public pledge to end the "undue burden" on grieving families and to finally stop the fiscal hemorrhage of shipping our deceased across the sea for basic post-mortem care.
April 10th has come and gone. The tarps at Golden Grove remain.
We have evidence of the failure. On Wednesday, April 8, a passenger died aboard the Adventure of the Seas while it was docked in Frederiksted. In a recent inquiry by the St. Croix Sun, VIPD Public Information Officer Glenn Dratte admitted—between workout sets—that when cruise ship passengers die on St. Croix, they are currently outsourced to Puerto Rico.
While we appreciate Mr. Dratte’s momentary candor, his admission is a fiscal indictment. Outsourcing these autopsies isn't just a "logistical choice"; it is a massive drain on the General Fund. Between specialized airfreight, international transit permits, and "sheltering fees," we are spending thousands of dollars per person to send business to San Juan or St. Thomas—money that should be stays here, supporting local specialists and infrastructure.
The VIPD has remained remarkably silent on this incident, perhaps hoping that "sensitivity for the family" would serve as a convenient shield for the Department of Justice's missed deadline. But true sensitivity would mean providing a functioning local facility so that a grieving family doesn't have to navigate the nightmare of international remains transit.
This raises a chilling question for the people of St. Croix: Is the VIPD being silent because they are incompetent, or has the AG instructed the "messenger" to stay quiet to avoid the embarrassment of another broken promise?
If Elon Musk can land a Starship on a dime, surely the Department of Justice can manage to take a tarp off a trailer in Golden Grove. Attorney General Rhea, the silence is over. Is the morgue open, or is the truth just another victim of the "Dratte Machine"?
