This article, pretty much an obituary of Dave Bachmann, was promoted by a press release from State Senator Criag Wilcox about the Drug Enforcement Administraiton’s Drug Take Back Day.
When David Bachmann was running as a Democrat against incumbent Coroner Cynthia Lamb, he advanced the idea that the Coronor’s Office should pick up unused prescrition drugs upon a person’ death.
Bachmann lost the race, but his idea lives on.
First it was picked up by New Jersey officials.
Th/en, it went national when the Drug Enforcement Administration adopted the program.
Unfortaunately, David Bachmann died in the Philippines of an unknown cause sometime in the first half of January, 2026.
Although the date of death is obscured, it appears it was on New Year’s Day in 2026 or some January date in the teens.
David entered my consciousness when my mother’s visitation was held at his new Bachmann Funeral Home.
He said that was what prompted the success of his business, which seems to have been financed with Cicero syndicate money (which he repaid)
Bachmann had been a star on his Crystal Lake High School baseball team, which undoubtedly helped his business.
At one point he became an undercover agent (probably not an employee) of the Drug Enforcement Administration. He pointed to the tattoos in his armpit, apparently very painful to obtain, to convince drug dealers that he was one of them.
Then, he became medical examiner in one of Mexico’s provinces. (The order of his life after the funeral home may not be in the correct order.)
He developed pancratic cancer which was treated in Dallas in 2002, when he was 42.. He told me he flew to Fort Myers with a bag in his lap after the operation.
There he entred the coffin business in Florida. I’m not sure the arrangement, but I’m pretty sure he sold and shipped them.
During his 2008 campaign for Coroner against Marlene Lantz, Bachmann touted his investigative talent, which was hortly critiqued by Sheriff Keith Nygren.
He garnered more votes–over 52,000–than any other Democratic Party candidate.
But he lost 60-40%.
In rretaliation to Nygren’s derisive criticism, Bachmann discovered and publicized that Nygren had two Homestead Exemptions–one in Illlnois and one in Cape Coral, Florida. Illinois doesn’t care, but Florida does. The Woodstock Independent published the details.
This did not please Nygren and it seems Bachmann believed his life was in danger. I remember his writing, “I’ve got my Mexicans, too.” Nygren lived on a canal in the Yacht Club segment of the city.
When Nygren annointed his Chief Deputy Andy Zinke for Sheriff against Bill Prim in 2012, Bachmann started an anti-Zinke web site.
He called his blog “Dirty Keith vs. Dirty Harry.”
It included photos of Zinke’s sister-in-law appearing wearing pretty miuch nothing.
Somewhere along the way he helped me post four-by-four signs near Bull Valley asking people to vote “Yes” on a zoning referendum.
We went into a small cemetery and I asked him to lie down in front of a tombstone. The result you can see below:
David Bachmann posed with one of his Coroner’s yard signs in front of a tombstone at my request. He had a good sense of humor, but he told me not to publish the photo until after he died.
David moved from McHenry County to Galena. At this point he was married to a woman he met in Jackson Hole while doing undercover work at a resort. They got married. The woman had a son with whom David became very attached. He also became a step-Dad to an older daughter. His wife tended to Dave while he was sick.
I don’t know if Dave was paranoid or in real danger when he lived in Galena Territory. He told of two closeby homes where Federal agents were watching his house.
That was the day he took my wife on her first (and last) motorcycle ride.
Dave was enamered with motocycles. He seemed always to be trading one in and buying a new one.
His wife was seeking citizenship and to complete the process, they were driving to Waukegan through Woodsotck.
My wife and I ate with them at Niko’s Red Mill Inn on the way there.
I mentioned to my wife that something seemed strange and, sure enough, when they returned to Galena, she filed for divorce.
That was bad enough for David, but the woman refused to allow David any access to her middle school-aged son or somewhat older daughter.
Dave bought a batman suit and stood at the bottom of the stairs in Galena allowing parents to take photos with him.
When we visited Galena, Dave loved to take my wife shopping. Fine with me; I was reading a book.
While in the Philippines, he started a YouTube channel. The VLOG featured a series of talks about relationships.
Also while there he begun his own charity/missionary work raising money and feeding and clothing the very poorest Filipinos, complete with Facebook page.
In the summer of 2018,he wrote he had begun building facilities deep into the Philippine mountain jungles.
In 2019, I received an email saying he was in Northern Vietnam “looking to build his missionary there” and was very sick.
I can’t find either the blog or the Facebook page, but found this eulogy:
