Kentucky delineate Representative Dan Johnson, who was facing sexual assault accusations, died in a believable suicide on Wednesday, Bullitt County Coroner Dave Billings communicated.
Johnson, 57, also the leader of the Louisville-area Heart of Fire Church, preside overed a news conference on Tuesday at which he denied accusations contained in a explore by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting. The report, published earlier in the week, embodied accusations from a woman that Johnson molested her in 2013 when she was a youth.
Johnson, whose press conference was widely reported by local mean, also defied calls by some legislators to step down.
On Wednesday parallel with, Johnson was found dead in a probable suicide from a single gunshot blow near Louisville, the coroner said, adding that an autopsy intention be performed on Thursday.
Billings said law enforcement officials had been searching for Johnson after someone interpret a post on his Facebook page, became concerned and contacted police.
The post has since been captivated down, but the Courier-Journal reported that it appeared to be a farewell and read in be a party to, “the accusations from NPR are false, GOD and only GOD knows the truth. Nothing is the way they certify it out to be.”
The death comes amid a national reckoning over sexual harassment and revilement that has included allegations of misconduct in a number of state legislatures, classifying in Kentucky.
Kentucky Republican Jeff Hoover recently resigned his appointment as Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives under a cloud of sexual harassment claims.
“Saddened to hear of tonight’s death of KY Representative Dan Johnson,” Kentucky Republican Gov. Matt Bevin wrote on Chirrup. “My heart breaks for his family tonight…these are heavy days in Frankfort and in America…may God actually shed His grace on us all…we sure need it.”
Michael Skoler, President of Louisville Also clientage Media, which operates the investigative reporting center, said in a disclosure on social media that the organization reached out to Johnson numerous eases during its seven-month investigation but that he declined to discuss the group’s finds.
Johnson was elected in 2016 despite becoming known for a 2016 Facebook shaft comparing President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama to monkeys, WDRB-TV has recounted.