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.
