Mark Middleton, (centre)

He texted wife ‘found a perfect place for a nap’ before blasting his chest and falling from bench with electrical cord tied around his neck

• Clinton White House aide Mark Middleton killed himself on a ranch in Arkansas
• A Perry County sheriff now says a gun WAS found, 30 feet from his body
• Middleton was found dead from what officials suspect to be a suicide on May 7, 2022 after texting his wife to say he was ‘going to rest’

Martin Gould and Daniel Bates — Daily Mail.com Feb 23, 2023

A shotgun WAS found near the body of the Clinton White House aide who killed himself on a ranch in Arkansas, the local sheriff is now saying.

And more details of how cops now believe Mark Middleton killed himself have been released.

Papers released earlier by Perry County sheriff Scott Montgomery said deputies who were called to the Heifer Ranch in Perryville, an hour west of Little Rock, after an abandoned BMW SUV was found there specifically said there was no gun in the car.

But now a further set of papers has been released to DailyMail.com that says a weapon – a Stoeger 12-gauge coach gun – was found on the ground 30 feet from Middleton’s body.

In the new papers, Sergeant Keenan Carter gives a detailed explanation of how he believes Middleton – an aide who signed pedophile Jeffrey Epstein into the White House several times during Bill Clinton’s presidency – took great lengths to ensure his suicide bid was successful – after writing a text to his wife saying he had ‘found a perfect place for a nap in the sun.’

He tied an electrical cord round his neck and then shot himself, so if the blast didn’t kill him the wire would when he fell.

In the note to his wife Rhea, Middleton said: ‘Going to rest for a while,’ he added: ‘You are a great Mom and wife babe.

‘Please be happy today and get some sun. It will make you feel better. I love you.’

He signed off on the text with a heart emoji.

Carter said Middleton, 59, then pulled an eight-foot-long bench over to a tree at a point on the ranch overlooking a valley.

‘He stood on top of the bench and tied one end of the extension cord to a large limb of the tree and the other end around his neck.

‘It is believed that Mr. Middleton then took the firearm and placed the barrels against his chest and then reached out with his left hand and placed his first finger on the first trigger.

‘It is then believed that Mr. Middleton pulled the trigger on the firearm casing (sic) it to discharge and strike him in the chest and then he fell from the bench causing the extension cord to become tight cutting off his breathing.’

Carter said in this report that the gun landed so far from Middleton’s body ‘due to the recoil from the discharge and the height and angle of the ground.’

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