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Suspect Commits Suicide After Holding SWAT Team at Bay

4-25-2007 Texas:
A man held SWAT officers at bay at some apartments in Southwest Houston Wednesday afternoon before killing himself, Houston Police Department officers said.

Officers were called to 8148 Victorian Village at Windsor Village about 1 p.m. That's when major offenders and warrant services were trying to serve an arrest warrant on Michael Anthony Lightning, 42, who allegedly failed to register as a sex offender.

When officers arrived, the suspect was in a car. He left the car, allegedly pointed a gun at the officer and retreated to an apartment. About 7 p.m., Lightning was found dead in the apartment and had apparently shot himself hours earlier.

A nearby elementary school, Jenard Gross Elementary, was placed on lockdown but late in the afternoon parents were allowed to come and pick their children up.

As many as 57 of the children were still at the school after 6 p.m., because most of them live in the apartment complex where the SWAT situation was taking place. Between 35 and 40 of the students were stuck at school and their parents couldn't leave the apartment complex to come pick up their children. ..more.. by MyFox Houston

Blog Overview

Thanks to folks who have taken the time to forward links to news articles, papers and other research in this blog. Please continue, it is much appreciated.

What is documented here comes from news reports and other credible sources. However with that said, we are sure this is not all there is, only what folks have advised us of.

The purpose of this blog is to document incidents of suicides and other deaths occurring to folks whose lives touch on sex offenses. Included here are folks who have been convicted of sex offenses, and folks who are accused of sex offenses but have no prior record of a sex offense. In addition, there are times when someone, a bystander so to speak, who has no connection to a sex offense or a sex offender, is mistakenly accused of committing a sex crime, they too are included.
If a person is known to be an -Advocate of Sex Offender Issues- then will be assigned a special tag "Advocate of Cause." Advocates of Cause may or may not be a person formerly convicted of any offense, and may or may not have committed suicide.

We retain these stories so other folks can find out what happened to the person should they be looking for them. Over time we have had many requests and this blog answers those questions.

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Article Tags, Topics, Issues Index:
"+" TAGS: Notice that some of the entries have a "+" before them, these are the entries that are educational in nature, or, we are bringing attention to special cases to help Advocates to find these when they speak with Lawmakers. We will post relevant educational material as we find them or are made aware of them. The remaining entries are factual, actual events. All stories are supported by news articles or other reasonable verifiable sources.

Bad / Dead Article Links:
Unfortunately as time goes on some of the Internet links (sources of news articles) will no longer work. This is due to various reasons such as the news site has been rearranged, older articles are removed or archived, etc. There is nothing we can do about this, which is why we try to capture the essence of a story initially, the relevant facts, so folks can still see what happened later on.

YEAR followed by blank, CC: The year follow by no designation means this is a US case. CC means it is a civil commitment case.

Suicide US - of RSOs/SOs: We are no longer keeping track of Foreign suicides, only those in the United States, no matter whether the person was registered (RSO) or not (SO). If someone in the U.S. -has no prior sex offense- and is accused of a sex offense, or believed to have committed a sex offense, their suicide will be flagged "SO."

Accused / Not Accused: By "accused" we mean was the person was accused of a sex crime at the point of death (if a RSO it would mean recidivism, if a SO it would be their first sex crime). The absence of the word "Accused" would put the case in one of the other designations. Accused includes "thought to have committed a sex crime," whether the thinking is the police or others involved in the case. Now, sometimes it is claimed a person committed a sex crime but authorities cannot find any evidence of it, or, the facts of the article does not show real evidence to support the claim, hence, we tag these "... Accused, but innocent." Selecting appropriate tags is difficult and can change when a newer article reveals more or incorrect evidence; we do our best.

w-Death/s of Innocent Others: Occasionally, someone is killed who IS NOT the RSO or the SO accused, we call those deaths "Innocent Others" and we keep track of them as well. Generally it is the RSO or SO accused who kills the Innocent Other, but there are times when someone else (Public Servants, Police) who accidentally cause the death. Those cases, "Innocent Other" deaths, are also recorded in our "Deaths Related to Sex Offenders or Offenses" blog, where we count them.

Article Tags, Topics, Issues Index & Their Meanings:
The most important question we are asked is, how many have committed suicide. If you look at the "Article Tags / Topics / Issues" Index (right side of page) you will see "Suicide -" and "Suicide/s US -" or "Suicide/s FRN -". NOTE: "Suicide -" are facts about the cases documented, while the other two are the actual number of suicides shown in the (##). Individual groupings are (Mathematically important):
  • Suicide/s US - of RSOs (##)
  • Suicide/s US - of RSOs Accused (##)
  • Suicide/s US - of SOs Accused (##)
  • -----------------------------------------
  • -- We do not track Foreign Registries --
  • -- Eff. August 2012 No More FRN cases --
  • -----------------------------------------

Death of Sex Offender Is Tied to Megan's Law

7-19-1998 California:
Last Tuesday, in the two blocks around the scruffy rooming house where Michael Allen Patton lived alone, the police spread the word door to door in stark fliers: Mr. Patton was a paroled sex offender with a 22-year history of assaults on women and young girls, a neighbor who had served 13 years in state prison.

Five days later, Mr. Patton, a 42-year-old sign painter, was found hanging by a rope tied to a redwood tree on the edge of this placid town in the heart of Sonoma County's wine country, his discarded bicycle nearby. Back in his room, across the street from a Y.M.C.A., down the block from a middle school and close to a youth services organization, investigators found a two-paragraph suicide note on pocket notebook paper addressed to his sister, describing where his body could be found.

Mr. Patton was one of 1,600 people classified as high-risk, violent sexual offenders statewide, with his record subject to public dissemination under the provisions of California's year-old version of Megan's law. He was one of 6 such offenders singled out by the Santa Rosa Police Department last week in its first effort at public notification. And while Mr. Patton's note made no mention of the law or the disclosure, supporters and opponents of the law agreed that the chain of events spoke for itself.

''I think it's the inevitable consequence,'' said Elizabeth Schroeder, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and an authority on sex offender notification laws. Ms. Schroeder said she believed that the case was the first in the state in which a suicide followed public notice. ''It was going to happen eventually,'' she added.

Police officials here expressed regret at Mr. Patton's death, but they said that there was no indication of any vigilantism against him and that they planned no change in their notification procedures for the most serious offenders, those convicted of at least two violent crimes.

Under state law, local law agencies have wide flexibility in handling notice about such people, while a total of 64,000 offenders' names are listed on a CD-ROM that is available for public inspection in every county sheriff's office and some police departments, but not otherwise widely distributed.

''We've discussed it, but there isn't anything we could've done to prevent this as far as I can see,'' said Sgt. Ernesto Olivares, supervisor of the Santa Rosa Police Department's sex crime and family violence unit, which oversees the mandatory registration of all 242 convicted sex offenders and public notice about the high-risk ones in this city of 130,000 people.

''I don't know what we could've changed or can change,'' Sergeant Olivares said. ''The intent of the law is to keep people informed and aware of a potential threat in their neighborhood.''

He said officers had only handed out the one-page fliers -- with a color picture of the mustachioed, bespectacled Mr. Patton, who was 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighed 220 pounds -- to adults in person, and did not leave them in mailboxes or under doors where children might find them. Each flier was accompanied by a one-page cover letter explaining the provisions of the law and warning of its penalties for vigilantism, Sergeant Olivares said.

One of Mr. Patton's neighbors, Mike Lucas, a retired man on disability who lives across the street with his wife, Patti, said Mr. Patton could be seen walking in the neighborhood, unkempt -- ''like a low-life,'' as Mrs. Lucas put it. The Lucases said that the police flier had made them nervous but that they were glad to have received it.

''I'm sorry that this pain caused him to take his life,'' Mr. Lucas said. ''But I still want to know if there are violent people in my neighborhood.''

As states throughout the country rushed to pass sex-offender notification laws after the murder of Megan Kanka by a convicted offender in Hamilton Township, N.J., in 1994, civil liberties groups warned that such efforts could drive convicted offenders even further underground and make it impossible for them to find jobs or put down roots in an effort to overcome their past.

A Lakeland, Fla., man shot himself to death last year after the Polk County Sheriff's Department ran an advertisement in The Ledger, a Lakeland newspaper that is owned by The New York Times Company, identifying him under Florida's notification law as a sexual predator who had had oral sex with a 4-year-old girl.

''At some point we have to have a notion that punishment is over,'' said Ms. Shroeder of the Civil Liberties Union. ''What these public notification laws do is they essentially place a big scarlet letter on someone's chest, that for the rest of this person's life he will be publicly branded. The whole notion of rehabilitation in this country has been lost, particularly for sex offenders.''

But law-enforcement officials and legislators maintain that the high recidivism rate among sex offenders justifies efforts to keep their neighbors informed. And while disclosures of such offenders' whereabouts have often prompted harassment and protests by neighbors since the California law took effect 18 months ago, a spokesman for State Attorney General Dan Lungren says his office has yet to record a confirmed case of vigilantism.

''Attorney General Lungren has always maintained that Megan's law provides a tremendous tool to the law-abiding public, to know if there are convicted sexual criminals living among them in their community,'' said the spokesman, Rob Stutzman. ''That public good outweighs potential negatives that may exist.''

Although the law has been in force since last year, some cities like Santa Rosa, 50 miles north of San Francisco, are just getting up to speed on notifications, in part because of an effort to weed out inaccuracies and outdated information on the state registry of sex offenders. Before releasing the names of the six high-risk offenders here, Sergeant Olivares said, investigators visited each of the men and explained what was happening. He said Mr. Patton had had no particular reaction one way or the other.

The local newspaper, The Press Democrat, which is also owned by the Times Company, published Mr. Patton's name along with those of the five other high-risk offenders, in an article about the police notifications last week. The paper's managing editor, Robert L. Swofford, said it had first adopted the policy last summer, when the county sheriff's department issued its own notifications about high-risk offenders living in unincorporated areas.

''At that point we had to make the call, are we going to name these people or not, and we made the decision that it's out there,'' Mr. Swofford said, adding that the paper had tried to interview all six men last week but that only two had agreed, and Mr. Patton was not among them. ''When this one came around, we followed the same practice.''

Today the paper quoted Pattie Davenport, who worked with Mr. Patton at an unidentified sign company in nearby Petaluma, as saying: ''They knocked the rug out from under him for something he did 16 years ago. It wasn't fair. He was trying to live right.''

The authorities said Mr. Patton's criminal record included convictions dating to 1976 on charges of false imprisonment, assault with intent to commit rape, rape by force or fear, oral copulation with a child under 14 and unlawful sexual intercourse with a child under 18. He was released from the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo in 1995 after serving a 13-year sentence for a 1982 conviction. His parole was to have expired next week.

David Brown, executive director of the Sonoma County Family Y.M.C.A., which is diagonally across the street from Mr. Patton's rooming house, said that all of its programs for children took place indoors or on gated playgrounds under close supervision, and that it had not changed its practices in any way because of Mr. Patton's presence in the neighborhood.

''I don't think we had time to digest it,'' Mr. Brown said today.

In the end, Mr. Patton's death left more questions than answers.

''You can make a lot of assumptions about what he was thinking,'' Sergeant Olivares said. ''But only Mr. Patton knows, and he took that with him.'' ..more.. by TODD S. PURDUM

SEX OFFENDERS: Town torn over molester's suicide

Neighborhood 'Child Rapist' Signs Blamed For Sex Offender's Suicide: Authors Of Signs Could Face Jail Over Flyers

Residents in a Ocala neighborhood could face charges after a convicted sex offender apparently committed suicide in despair over signs labeling him a "child rapist" posted in his neighborhood, according to Local 6 News.

Bright yellow, laminated signs displaying Claxton's picture, date of birth, address and the words "child rapist" hanging on power poles in his neighborhood. A county commissioner proposed posting such information in the community but Sheriff Ed Dean rejected the idea.


Clovis Ivan Claxton, 38, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a child in Washington in 1991, had lived at 3230 SE. 45 Street in Ocala for about two years.

Tuesday, Claxton noticed bright yellow, laminated signs displaying his picture, date of birth, address and the words "child rapist" hanging on power poles in his neighborhood. A county commissioner proposed posting such information in the community but Sheriff Ed Dean rejected the idea.

After seeing the signs, Claxton called the sheriff's office and said that he felt "extremely scared and feels that people in the neighborhood are now out to possibly hurt him."

"Once he made these type statements our deputies took this man into custody under the Baker Act law and transported him to a local mental health facility for evaluation," Marion County Sheriff's Capt. Denis Strow said. "He was later released."

Tuesday morning, Claxton's parents found him dead of an apparent overdose with one of the child rapist flyers by his side.

After seeing the signs, convicted sex offender Clovis Claxton called the sheriff's office and said that he felt "extremely scared and feels that people in the neighborhood are now out to possibly hurt him."

Jane Claxton blames County Commissioner Randy Harris, who proposed the flyers, for her son's death, according to a report.

"Just don't get on the bandwagon," she said. "There's going to be other (deaths) if Randy Harris has his way. He hasn't been in trouble for 18 years, and he's branded for life."

Harris said sex offenders need to take responsibility for their actions.

"I don't blame his death to the signs," he said, adding he was undeterred in his quest to alert people to sex offenders living in their neighborhoods.

Dean said it is an example that police work should be left to authorities.

"We need to keep calm, do the right thing," Dean said. "Not go overboard with it. Protect our children. Use all of the resources we can but not stir a community up to a frenzy."

4th suicide brings call for jail probe

4-9-2007 Ohio

HAMILTON – After the fourth apparent suicide of an inmate within 10 months, a civil rights group says the rate seems high and is calling for a federal investigation of the Butler County Jail.

Meanwhile, the county sheriff’s office is launching an internal investigation and welcomes the scrutiny.

“I won’t shy away from them,” Sheriff Rick Jones said Monday.

On Saturday, a corrections officer found Timothy James Hughes, 19, hanging in his cell. He was taken to Fort Hamilton Hospital, then to University Hospital, where he died Sunday. That was eight days after inmate Thomas Brotherton, 49, also hanged himself.

Brotherton’s death was the Butler jail’s first suicide since June, when inmates Delbert Osborne, 20, and Elmer Tucker, 38, hanged themselves.

“It’s uncommon to even see one death. But four deaths (within 10 months) is alarming,” said Mike Brickner, spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.

His organization plans to send a letter Tuesday to the U.S. Department of Justice urging an investigation of the jail.

“It could say there’s a problem with the conditions of the jail or the amount of attention the inmate receives and the practices and procedures of the jail,” Brickner said. “It’s a huge indicator that there likely are systemic problems in the jail that need to be addressed right now.”

Monte Mayer, Butler sheriff’s spokesman, said preventing suicides in jail is difficult. “It’s impossible to watch every inmate, every minute of every hour. ... You do everything you can to prevent it, but these guys are here 24/7, and if they really want to do it, they’ll figure out a way to do it.”

Mayer said the jail staff routinely checks on inmates at least once hourly, as state regulations require, and also watches for signs of depression or other mental-health issues.

Clint Nigg, a Butler County coroner’s investigator, pointed out that a person can “start to go brain dead” after being oxygen-deprived for six minutes.

The ACLU sought an investigation of the Butler jail in June 2006 after the two suicides that month. It examined autopsy findings for those two inmates, and found nothing that stood out, Brickner said.

Hughes had been locked up since March 14 on charges of robbery, and possession of drugs and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Hamilton County has lost only one inmate to suicide in the last year. In June, a 36-year-old used his pants to hang himself in Hamilton County.

Clermont County also has one inmate commit suicide in the past year. In that case, a 40-year-old suffocated himself with a plastic bag. He was in jail on numerous sex charges, officials said. ..more.. by

Sex offender hangs himself in jail

4-3-2007 Arizona:
A registered sex offender who was suspected of abducting and sexually molesting a 6-year-old girl has died after apparently hanging himself in his jail cell, authorities said.


George Richard Horner III, 26, was found hanging in his cell on Sunday and could not be revived, authorities said. Horner initially had a pulse when he was discovered.

Horner was the suspect in a January Amber Alert. Authorities said he took the child from her home and was caught near Coolidge. ..more.. by KVOA

Inmate dies days after suicide attempt

3-13-2007 Alaska:
A Salcha man in jail on charges of molesting two boys died Friday, a week after attempting suicide at Fairbanks Correctional Center.

David Webb, 32, died at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, according to a nursing supervisor.

Webb’s exact cause of death was not available, but he had been in critical condition in the hospital’s intensive care unit since March 4. Department of Corrections spokesman Richard Schmitz said Webb used a sock that afternoon to hang himself from a shower curtain rod in the showers in the dormitory of the state-run jail. Schmitz said an inmate noticed Webb and alerted jail officers, who lifted Webb and then cut the sock to release him.

Schmitz said the call to 911 went out within a minute of the inmate alerting officers to Webb’s attempt. Officers and jail medical staff performed CPR for nine minutes until Fairbanks paramedics arrived.

“They responded very quickly,” Schmitz said.

Schmitz said he did not know how many inmates were in the shower area at the same time as Webb.

Alaska State Troopers are investigating the incident but said foul play is not suspected. Schmitz said the Department of Corrections is preparing an incident report. He said information was not readily available about how many suicides have taken place in Department of Corrections facilities in Alaska.

Webb had been in jail on $150,000 bail since Feb. 21, when he was charged with sexual assault of two boys, ages 12 and 13. The abuse allegedly took place late last year at Webb’s home, according to court documents. Troopers began an investigation into the allegations in mid-February after receiving a tip. ..more.. by

Calif. deputy shot, gunman found dead of self-inflicted wound

3-22-2007 California:
ESCALON, Calif. — One man was dead nearby, a sheriff's deputy wounded and a methamphetamine lab discovered in a house southeast of Escalon on Tuesday.

A San Joaquin County sheriff's deputy, called to the house Tuesday morning on a domestic disturbance, was shot in the leg upon arrival.

A man whose name officials didn't release but whom they suspect of shooting at the deputy was found dead in an adjacent almond orchard from what the Sheriff's Office said was an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The house where the lab was found was on the west side of the 19000 block Santa Fe Road, sheriff's officials said. Neighbors said there was only one home in the area, a distance off the main road and shrouded by trees.

"You've kind of got to be really looking (to find it)," said June Madrid, 34, who lives nearby on Reile Street.

The dead man's connection to the methamphetamine lab was unknown Tuesday afternoon, said Deputy Les Garcia, a spokesman for the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office.

But he said it was common that methamphetamine labs are found in rural areas.

A multiagency force responded to the deputy's call for backup: two vans of San Joaquin County Special Weapons and Tactics team members, county explosive ordnance disposal and hostage negotiation teams, and officers from the Stockton Police, Escalon Police and Stanislaus County Sheriff's departments.

The Sheriff's Office received a report around 9 a.m. of a domestic disturbance at the home about two miles southeast of Escalon. A deputy drove to the home to investigate and was shot immediately upon arrival, Garcia said.

The deputy, a 16-year veteran, was shot once in the upper leg. He called for backup.

"When he was behind cover and things started to slow down a little bit, he realized he had been shot," Garcia said.

Then, Garcia said, the deputy heard a single gunshot and saw the suspect, who had fled into a nearby almond orchard, fall to the ground. He was dead when approached by law enforcement officers, Garcia said. The deputy, who was not immediately identified, was taken to a hospital, where he was treated and released.

Garcia said there might have been an exchange of fire between the deputy and the suspect, but that remained under investigation. Garcia also would not say what type of weapon was used in the shooting or whether the home was a known trouble spot, pending further investigation.

The Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department and the California Highway Patrol sent helicopters to the area after the deputy was shot.

SWAT officers arrived around noon and took up positions around the home in case there was anyone else inside or any booby traps. Explosive ordinance disposal and hostage negotiation teams arrived around 1 p.m.

Stockton police brought a robot designed for dealing with explosives and standoff situations shortly after.

The robot was sent into the house around 2 p.m. The Sheriff's Office announced the discovery of the methamphetamine lab around 3 p.m. The lab used red phosphorous, an ingredient in a very common and very dangerous process for synthesizing methamphetamine.

The woman who had made the initial report of domestic violence to police was still being interviewed Tuesday. Garcia would not identity the woman or describe the relationship between the woman and the dead man.

Neighbors said the man who rented the house was Dan Simas. The state's registry of sex offenders, accessible at , lists a Daniel Simas, 57, as living at 19911 S. Santa Fe Road in Escalon. The offense that required his registering as a sex offender is listed as "lewd or lascivious acts with a child 14 or 15 years old."

Carl Thom, who lives next to Simas, said he heard three or four gunshots in rapid succession, then as many as three more shots around 9 a.m. as he walked out to a barn on his 10.5-acre almond farm on Jones Avenue.

"It sounded kind of odd," said Thom, 57.

Simas rented a house on the property for about 10 years, was separated from his wife and had a couple of daughters, Thom said.

He kept a low profile, too, according to Thom.

Thom said he rarely encountered Simas; he last saw him about five years ago. He recalled Simas was in his 50s and at one point worked for a trucking company.

"He kept to himself pretty much," Thom said. "I never really knew what was going on over there."

Thom said he met Simas in the 1970s, when Simas' brother Gary rented a house next to his home on the same property. Gary Simas died in May.

Paul Adrian, listed in county records as the trustee of the 54-acre property where Daniel Simas lived, declined an interview when asked about Simas.

"I have nothing to say about it," Adrian said. ..more.. by Christian Burkin

Inmate hangs self in county jail

9-1-2005 California:
A 42-year-old convicted sex offender committed suicide in the San Luis Obispo County jail last week, hours before officials were to transport him to the Wasco State Prison for a 71-year prison term.

Eugene Sloan, a Santa Maria resident, was convicted in 2004 of raping a 40-year-old Los Osos woman. It was his fourth sex crime conviction and his third felony strike.

Jail staff found Sloan at about 2:05 a.m. on Friday during a routine check. After life-saving efforts failed, he was taken to Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center and pronounced dead.

Sheriff officials have confirmed that an autopsy has been completed and that they are conducting an investigation into the death, but are remaining silent about their findings until a toxicology report is completed in the coming weeks. ..more.. by -A.H.

Accused child molestor dead of apparent suicide

3-22-2007 Mississippi:
A Choctaw County man who was charged with sex crimes against his young children was found dead of an apparent suicide late Thursday morning, Sheriff Doug McHan said.

Wayne Cox, 61, of Weir was found dead at about 10:30 in a wooded area behind the Weir-Stewart Road home he and his wife shared.

“It was an apparent suicide by overdose,” McHan said.

Authorities found Cox with an empty bottle of Xanex, a Mountain Dew and a small caliber handgun, McHan said.

It didn’t appear that the gun had been used, McHan said, adding that no suicide note had been found.

An autopsy has been ordered to make an official ruling on the cause of death, McHan said.

Cox was arrested on March 14 and charged with sexual battery on his 11-year-old girl and 4-year-old son.

The investigation began in December after a complaint was filed with the Department of Human Services.

The children were removed from the home to live with relatives when the investigation began, McHan said. Cox was out of jail on $55,000 bond.

The charges against Cox were reported in The Star-Herald, which went on sale the afternoon before he was found dead. ..more.. by The Star-Hearld

Man accused of molestation kills self

3-9-2007 Texas:
A 45-year-old Collin County man wanted on a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14 has committed suicide, according to county officials.

William Edward Korioth of Princeton shot himself, said Collin County Medical Examiner William Rohr. Dr. Rohr said Mr. Korioth's decomposed body was found on the shoreline of Lavon Lake on March 2. It was unclear how long he'd been dead.

Mr. Korioth was last seen alive Feb. 21 when Collin County sheriff's deputies attempted to serve a warrant for his arrest.

Mr. Korioth was accused of molesting two young boys for several years. ..more.. by LAUREN D'AVOLIO

Remains may be those of child rape suspect

1-26-2004 Oregon:
Police have found the skeletal remains of a man they believe might have been a suspect in a child rape case last summer.

A Pacific police detective and another person walking along the Union Pacific railroad tracks between County Line Road East and Third Avenue Southeast came upon the remains midday Saturday.

Police later confirmed that they believe the remains are those of Ward Ohl, 55, of Pacific, who walked away from the family home on June 25. ..mpre.. by SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES

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Remains identified as man accused of child rape
2-6-2004 Oregon:
PACIFIC, King County — Weathered remains found in Pacific last month have been identified as those of a truck driver who vanished after being accused of molesting a child.

The cause of death of Ward Ohl, 55, remained undetermined, according to a report Wednesday from the King County Medical Examiner's Office.

Ohl's bones were found Jan. 24 along the Union Pacific tracks in Pacific. He vanished from his home in Pacific on June 25 after relatives accused him of child molestation, and the next month he was charged in King County Superior Court with first-degree child rape. Law-enforcement investigators have said they suspect Ohl committed suicide. ..more.. by The Seattle Times Company

Nashua man jailed on alleged abuse found dead in cell

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Former DA charged with child sexual assault dies

4-5-2007 Texas:
The former district attorney for Brown and Mills counties who last year was charged with molesting a child in Williamson County has died, possibly from an overdose of over-the-counter medication, officials said.

Sky Sudderth died at a Fort Worth hospital Tuesday, the same day a hearing had been scheduled in Williamson County to set his trial date. He faced up to life in prison if convicted.

The Comanche Police Department said officers were called to a location on Highway 36 early Monday morning after Sudderth had allegedly taken an overdose of over-the-counter medication, the Abilene Reporter-News reported in its online edition Wednesday.

Sudderth, 40, whose address was listed in Comanche, was taken to Comanche Community Hospital by ambulance and later was taken to Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth, where he fell into a coma and died Tuesday.

Police in Comanche, about 95 miles southwest of Fort Worth, are still investigating Sudderth's death. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office said results were pending from an autopsy performed Wednesday.

Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley said that two weeks ago his office received DNA results related to Sudderth's case, in which he was charged with assaulting a 7-year-old girl in June in Leander, about 20 miles northwest of Austin.

"The DNA results made our case bulletproof against him," Bradley told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Bradley said he informed Sudderth's attorney, Patricia Cummings of Round Rock. She did not immediately return a call to the AP seeking comment Wednesday.

Sudderth was arrested in June in Williamson County and charged with sexual assault of a child. In August, he was indicted on nine counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and one count of tampering with physical evidence. Sudderth was released after posting a $500,000 bond in November.

The charges against Sudderth will be dropped after Williamson County receives a copy of his death certificate, Bradley said.

Sudderth was district attorney for Brown and Mills counties in West Texas from 2001-04. He resigned after he was indicted on several charges, including tampering with and fabricating physical evidence regarding a case in which he made a plea bargain with a sex offender. Those charges were dismissed after he resigned. ..more.. by KRIS TV



Ex-DA died from ethylene glycol
5-1-2007 Texas:

FORT WORTH -- A former district attorney who had been charged with sexual assault of a child died from ingesting chemicals found in antifreeze, the Tarrant County medical examiner has reported.

Sky Sudderth, 40, the former district attorney for Brown and Mills counties, died April 3 of ethylene glycol intoxication, according to the medical examiner's report. Investigators have not said how the chemical got into his body, the Abilene Reporter-News reported Monday.

Ethylene glycol is commonly found in antifreeze and de-icing solutions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, exposure to large amounts of ethylene glycol can damage the kidneys and heart and cause death.

Sudderth's death happened the day a hearing was scheduled in Williamson County to set his trial date. He was accused of sexually assaulting a 7-year-old girl.

Sudderth was district attorney for Brown and Mills counties in West Texas from 2001 to 2004. He resigned after he was indicted on several charges, including tampering with and fabricating physical evidence regarding a case in which he made a plea bargain with a sex offender. Those charges were dismissed after he resigned. ..more.. by Associated Press