Police investigate death of Miss. state legislator
Published 7:58 am Monday, March 25, 2013
- FILE - This Feb. 20, 2008 photo shows Rep. Jessica Upshaw, R-Diamondhead at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss. Simpson County Coroner Terry Tutor says Upshaw died Sunday, March 24, 2013. Mississippi Bureau of Investigation spokesman Warren Strain says the crime scene unit is at a home in Mendenhall, investigating her death. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
Authorities say they are investigating the apparent suicide of a state legislator in Mississippi.
Simpson County Sheriff Kenneth Lewis tells WLOX that Rep. Jessica Upshaw appeared to have shot herself in the head at a home in Mendenhall on Sunday. The town is about 30 miles southeast of Jackson, the state capital. She was 53.
The sheriff told The Clarion-Ledger that Upshaw was found at the home of former state Rep. Clint Rotenberry. He has not been arrested.
Upshaw was an attorney who had been a lawmaker since 2004. She was a Republican from Diamondhead along the state’s coast. Mendenhall is about 110 miles away from her hometown.
The sheriff did not return a phone call from The Associated Press. Rotenberry did not answer his phone.
