Tuesday, June 19, 2012

by BJ Lutz And Jeff Goldblatt |

The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office will reportedly soon be looking for a new director.

The facility's current head, Dr. Nancy Jones, is resigning.

President Toni Preckwinkle will hold a news conference Tuesday to announce "changes in personnel, policy and procedure." That includes the formation of an 11-member advisory board to the office, according to Commissioner Larry Suffredin.

Suffredin chairs the committee which approves appointments the Cook County Board President makes.

He added, however, that he has no knowledge of Jones leaving office.

The changes Preckwinkle will announce come months after it became public knowledge that bodies had been stacked in a storage cooler.

Preckwinkle said back in January that she was "disturbed" by some of the conditions in the facility, at 2121 W. Harrison St., and vowed to make changes.

"People will lose their jobs," she said at the time.

Jones, however, was kept on while the president's office and the Inspector General conducted investigations into what happened. Aides found that 363 bodies were stored in a cooler designed to hold 300.

More than 100 bodies were buried in April during a special ceremony at Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery on the city's south side.

Jones was appointed Cook County Medical Examiner by former President Todd Stroger five years ago. She's never commented publicly on the scandal.