OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A forensic pathologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., has accepted an offer to become Chief Medical Examiner in Oklahoma.

Medical examiner’s office spokeswoman Cherokee Ballard said Tuesday that Dr. Eric Pfeifer formally accepted the offer in an email. Pfeifer was offered the job Monday at an annual salary of $225,000.

The Board of Medicolegal Investigations has had trouble finding a replacement for Dr. Collie Trant, who was fired in 2010. It withdrew an offer to an Arizona medical examiner after learning he once transported a body in the bed of his pickup truck.

The board also offered the job to interim chief medical examiner Dr. Andrew Sibley — but he turned down the position.

Ballard says Pfeifer will start when his medical license is approved in Oklahoma.

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