Evan Chandler commits suicide
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-11-18 19:00
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Evan Chandler - the father of Jordy Chandler, the boy who accused Michael Jackson of sexual abuse in 1994 - has committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.
The father of a boy who accused Michael Jackson of sexual abuse has committed suicide.
Evan Chandler - whose son Jordy was 13 when he claimed in 1993 the pop star had molested him - was discovered in bed holding a firearm with a gun shot wound to the head. He was 65
The former Beverly Hills dentist was found by a concierge at his waterfront Jersey City apartment in New Jersey on November 5 after he failed to keep a doctors appointment.
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It comes just five months after his son's alleged abuser Michael Jackson died at his Los Angeles home from acute Propofol intoxication.
A police source said: "We have ruled it as suicide because he was found with a gun held to his body. He had a single bullet wound to the side of his head.
"There was no note but officers did find medication in keeping with a serious medical condition."
Dad-of-four Chandler's claim that Jackson had abused his son triggered the singer's fall from grace in the early 90s.
A 13-month police probe followed including a raid on Jackson's Neverland Ranch, in California.
The case never reached court after Jordy was given a $22 million settlement and signed a contract agreeing never to talk about the allegations.
After the public furore following the allegations, divorcee Evan underwent a series of bizarre cosmetic surgery operations, just as Michael did.
Jordy - now 29 and living in Long Island, New York, under an assumed name - had fallen out with his father.
He took out a restraining order against him in 1996 claiming his dad had attacked him with a dumbbell weight.
In the same year, Evan filed a $60 million lawsuit against Michael and his then-wife Lisa Marie Presley for talking about the case - allegedly breaching the confidentiality contract.
The officer in charge of the suicide probe, former Santa Barbara County Sheriff Jim Thomas, said yesterday: "Everybody in this whole saga was touched tragically."