A Mississippi Tea Party activist who had been charged for allegedly helping a blogger who snuck into a nursing home to take a picture of Senator Thad Cochran’s wife was found dead this morning in an apparent suicide. From Politico:
Police said that Mayfield’s wife, Robin, called 911 just after 9 a.m. to say her husband had shot himself. Officers arrived to find the 57-year-old lying on the floor of a storage room in his garage with a single gunshot wound to the head and a “large caliber revolver” with the body.
Authorities alleged that Mayfield, a lawyer, was familiar with the nursing home where Rose Cochran lived because his mother had spent time there. Mayfield, they said, told blogger Clayton Kelly how to make his way into the facility. Kelly is charged with “exploitation of a vulnerable adult, photo voyeurism and conspiracy” in the case.
Thad Cochran defeated Tea Party candidate Chris McDaniel this week in a heated primary. After the news of Mayfield’s apparent suicide broke, McDaniel’s policy director wrote on Twitter that “Republican leaders” perpetrating a “campaign to destroy lives” were responsible for Mayfield’s death.
Mayfield denied that he was guilty of the charges against him.
