The 2022 death of a former aide to ex-President Bill Clinton was deemed a suicide by law enforcement, according to newly disclosed documents.
Mark Middleton, the former aide, was found dead at Heifer Ranch in Perry County on May 7, 2022.
A Perry County Sheriff’s Office report, obtained by The Epoch Times, shows that a deputy responded to the ranch for an abandoned vehicle call at approximately 1 p.m. Another deputy soon arrived.
The deputies found a dead man hanging from a tree.
“I could see the male was obviously deceased,” deputy Jeremy Lawson wrote in the incident report. “I could see that he had a gunshot wound to the chest and that he had a knot tied in an extension cord that was around his neck and it was attached to the limb directly above him.”
After securing the scene, one of the deputies went back to the vehicle and found a purchase agreement with Middleton’s name.
A gun case with buckshot was located in the trunk. But no weapon was there.
Sgt. Keenan Carter, in an investigation memorandum dated the day of the death, said that two rounds were missing from one of the buckshot boxes.
Carter wrote that around the body, there “didn’t appear to be any signs of a struggle and or drag marks leading to where the body was located,” though there were drag marks from “sitting bench legs that appeared the victim had pulled up close to the tree.”
Middleton appeared to have stood on the bench, Carter concluded.
The sergeant said that there was a single gunshot wound to the man’s chest area on the left side, and an exit wound.
“The victim had very little blood at or near the wound site to indicate that he survived the gunshot for no more than a few seconds,” Carter said. An examination of the left hand revealed signs of gunpowder residue.
A 12-gauge shotgun was located on the ground about 30 feet away from the victim.
“The ground location where the gun was located had a small scuff on the ground to indicate it’s the point it landed after it was fired,” Carter said. “The buttstock of the gun on the rear bottom also had a scuff and dirt on it as to indicate that’s where it landed on the ground after being fired.”
The man hanging from the tree had a driver’s license with the name Mark Middleton on it, as well as a cell phone.
Carter said that he believed Middleton drove to the ranch, parked the vehicle, and retrieved the gun, ammunition, and a white extension cord.
After arriving, Middleton sent a text message at approximately 9:26 a.m. to his wife, saying in part that he was “going to rest for a while” and that his wife was “a great Mom and wife.”
Middleton then pulled the bench over to the tree, stood on top of the bench, and tied one end of the extension cord to the tree and the other around his neck, according to the sergeant. Middleton is then believed to have put the gun barrel against his chest and pulled the trigger.
The firearm landed so far away “due to the recoil from the discharge and the height and angle of the ground,” the memo stated. “This officer didn’t find any evidence to indicate that there was anyone else present with Mr. Middleton at this scene or any evidence that there was any type of struggle and or foul play.”
In a second memo, dated May 11, 2022, Carter memorialized a call from Dr. Theodore Brown, who Carter said relayed that the wound to Middleton’s chest “is consistent with a close contact wound and is consistent with the type of weapon found at the scene.”
Brown said the wound was fatal, though Middleton may have survived for a few seconds before dying.
Brown said there was no reason of evidence to indicate that “this was anything but a suicide from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and hanging from the cord that was located around Mr. Middleton’s neck,” Carter wrote.
An autopsy report prepared by Brown, dated Aug. 5, 2022, ruled the cause of death as “contact shotgun wound of chest and hanging” and the manner of death as suicide.
No drugs were detected in Middleton’s system.
“Based on all of the information available to me at this time, the death of Mark Middleton was caused by a contact shotgun wound of the chest and hanging,” Brown wrote. “Given the circumstances as currently known, the manner of death is suicide.”
A lawyer who represented the Middleton family in their bid to stop the publication of photographs from the scene of the death declined to comment when reached on Feb. 22. He also declined to share contact information of the family.
A judge blocked the release of the images but did not include the sheriff’s report or autopsy findings.
Middleton’s family said in an obituary that Middleton “was a devoted uncle, and his legacy will live on in the hearts and minds of all who loved him.”
Lawson’s report was first obtained by the Daily Mail. The outlet did not report on the memos from Carter and Brown’s autopsy report while reporting that Middleton “was found shot and tied to a tree with an electrical cord around his neck—despite no sign of weapon.”
Middleton served in the White House during the Clinton administration. He signed Jeffrey Epstein, who was later convicted of sex offenses, into the White House multiple times.
Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on child sex trafficking charges. The medical examiner there ruled the death a suicide.
