Boone County to hire deputy medical examiner today

A new deputy medical examiner — and a possible candidate to become Boone County’s chief examiner — has been hired after a nationwide search, nine months after embattled former county medical examiner Valerie Rao abruptly resigned.

Christopher Stacy, the chief clinical pathologist at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center in Fort Hood, Texas, said he will start his new job next month when the medical examiner’s office moves from its location at St. Charles Road to a new, state-of-the-art facility at University Hospital.

An official announcement of Stacy’s hiring is expected today.

Stacy, 53, of Killeen, Texas, is board certified in forensic pathology and has worked at the Army’s medical center at Fort Hood for 9½ years. Stacy has a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Oklahoma State University and his doctorate from the University of Oklahoma at Oklahoma City.

Stacy, reached at his home in Texas on Thursday evening, said he is looking forward to moving to and learning about Columbia.

“It’s going to be the best job I’ve ever had,” he said.

Eddie Adelstein, the interim chief medical examiner, said he expects Stacy will be fast-tracked into the chief position.

“He has a lot of experience and he is very personable,” Adelstein said.

Stacy has worked for the U.S. Army for 27 years. Aside from his current position, Stacy travels to Dover, Del., once a month to document injury patterns and identify casualties from Iraq.

Incoming Boone County Prosecutor Dan Knight, a member of the search committee charged with finding a new medical examiner, said Stacy has “tremendous hands-on experience.”

“He will be accessible to prosecution and defense teams and he will be easy to work with,” Knight said. “That’s a huge plus.”

Stacy’s hiring comes on the heels of the unveiling of a new morgue by the Boone County Commission on Thursday.

Northern District Boone County Commissioner Skip Elkin called the new facility, which will service Boone and Callaway counties, a “huge improvement” from the medical examiner’s office at 5609 E. St. Charles Road. “They are very modern, they have more room, better capacity and more efficiency,” Elkin said.

Rao, the county’s former chief medical examiner, cited “personal and family reasons” for her sudden resignation in March. Rao had been the chief medical examiner for two years after serving as the chief medical examiner for Florida’s 5th District in Leesburg, Fla.