Springfield Mayor's Death Ruled Suicide
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WBBM/CBS) -- A coroner's jury in downstate Sangamon County has determined that Springfield Mayor Timothy Davlin committed suicide.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Dave Dahl reports, Davlin died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Dec. 14.
The coroner's jury made its decision following an inquest.
The popular mayor was found shot in the heart at point-blank range, sitting in the passenger's seat of his sport-utility vehicle inside of his garage. The garage door was open, and the SUV's motor was running.
On the day he committed suicide, Davlin, 53, had been scheduled to appear in court to address questions about his handling of the estate of a cousin who died in 2003.
There was no note left at the scene, but it appears that Davlin did not have anyone close to him to whom he could say, "I'm having a problem."
Prior to that, Davlin had let a filing deadline pass with no formal announcement that he was not running for reelection.
Davlin had been mayor of the city with 120,000 residents since April 2003.
Springfield Ald. Frank Edwards was appointed interim mayor on Dec. 29.
(TM and © Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS Radio and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
