"It was her, and she's deceased," said Frank Ruggiero, a public information officer with the Tarpon Springs Police Department. "There's no question that it was a suicide."
Considering the DC Madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, could reveal her embarrassing client list of the rich and powerful (they say mostly Republicans--and some hint of a Cheney connection), for the police to immediately say "no question that it was a suicide" is kinda suspicious. A lot of powerful and well-placed men would want her silenced to prevent her from revealing their names. At the very least, a full autopsy and a thorough CSI investigation of every fiber and evidence in the crime scene is a requirement. Also, her body was found at a shed...curious.
More on this at huffingtonpost:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
After the fold: DC Madam Predicted She Would Be Suicided
Why it's suspicious:
- her body was found at a shed near her mother's home;
- police readily say it was a suicide without a thorough investigation;
- her last public comments were defiant, and she threatened to reveal her client list or to sell it to the highest bidder (Palfrey piqued fascination -- and anxiety -- by first threatening to sell phone records that could unveil thousands of clients, and then handing them over, apparently for free, to ABC News.)
- she's been arrested before (In 1992, she pleaded guilty to attempted felony pimping...she spent 18 months in a state prison) and knew how to weather this new arrest;
- From the Washington Post:
"I am not a quitter," Palfrey wrote in another e-mail to The Post. "Additionally, I abhor injustice, on any level and in any forum. I frankly persist despite life's barriers. It is no more complicated than this."
"I should just 'cave' and defend myself," she wrote in a recent e-mail. "Otherwise, this ridiculous caricature people seem to have of someone in my position . . . sadly will be at my expense."
For a backgrounder which reveals her state of mind:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
**Update**
DC Madam Predicted She Would Be Suicided
From...
http://prisonplanet.com/...
DC Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey predicted she would be "suicided" on several occasions both recently and as far back as 17 years ago - comments that now appear ominous in light of the announcement that the former head of a Washington escort service allegedly killed herself today.
"If taken into custody, my physical safety and most probably my very life would be jeopardized," she wrote in August 1991 following an attempt to bring her to trial, "Rape, beating, maiming, disfigurement and more than likely murder disguised in the form of just another jailhouse accident or suicide would await me," said Palfrey in a handwritten letter to the judge accusing the San Diego police vice squad of having a vendetta against her.
Palfrey had threatened to release the names of well-known clients of her upscale call girl ring in the nation's capitol, and had indicated that Dick Cheney may be one of them.
(thanks to 'randrop' for the heads up)