MADISONVILLE, KY - State officials have appointed a new medical examiner for western Kentucky, which means autopsies can resume at the Western Kentucky Medical Examiner's Office.

The facility in Madisonville has been without a pathologist since Dr. DeDe Schluckebier left the post in June 2011. Since that time, officials from 25 western Kentucky counties have taken bodies needing autopsies to Louisville.

The new medical examiner, Dr. Greg Wanger, is a forensic pathologist at the Northern Kentucky Medical Examiner's Office. He is expected to transfer on Jan. 1 to the Madisonville office which will allow autopsies to resume there.

Hopkins County Coroner Dennis Mayfield told The Messenger that having the local office back open "will help us get a quicker report in death cases."