According to a report from Perry County Sheriff’s department, Mark Middleton, a former high-ranking aide in Bill Clinton’s Presidential cabinet, died by suicide.
Last year on May 2, Middleton, 59, was found dead at the Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas — which is 30 miles from his home and an hour west of the state capital Little Rock. The report written by Deputy Jeremy Lawson asserts ranch worker Samantha McElroy, 46, called the police after discovering Middleton’s abandoned black BMW SUV and what appeared to be “a person,” near a cottage toward the rear of the property. Lawson says when he arrived on the scene, they found Middleton tied to a tree with an extension cord around his neck and a gunshot wound to the chest. The report also states that a search of Middleton’s vehicle returned evidence including up to “three boxes of buckshot,” and “a gun case.” However, no weapon was found and authorities still have not located the weapon used in the fatal incident.
A judge recently released the report with details surrounding the suicide after it was initially held up by Middleton’s family for over nine months due to concerns about pictures from the scene of the grim incident being made public. His family told the Arkansas Times the ex-White House official was suffering from depression in the time leading up to his death. Middleton, who is survived by his two daughters aged 18 and 20, served as a special advisor to Bill Clinton throughout the 1990s. He reportedly signed deceased multi-millionaire and accused pedophile Jeffrey Epstein into the White House seven of the 17 times he visited the Oval Office. Epstein was charged with multiple counts of sex trafficking in connection with accusations of illegal sexual activity at his estate, known as “Epstein Island,” on Little St. James Island, off the coast of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Epstein died, reportedly by suicide, in jail in 2019 — just 35 days after his arrest and indictment for sex trafficking.
In addition to his work as an aide for Clinton, Middleton was also an assistant to the chief of staff, Thomas ‘Mack’ McLarty, and had a reputation described as “an international deal-maker,” upon his exit from the White House in 1995. Middleton, who also reportedly flew on Epstein’s jet, nicknamed the ‘Lolita Express,’ most recently worked for his family’s HVAC business based in Little Rock. A 1996 investigation conducted by the White House claims Middleton “abused his access to impress business clients,” and was “barred from the executive mansion without senior approval.”
Middleton’s mysterious death adds yet another unsubstantiated casualty to the tally of deceased officials formerly connected to the Clinton administration. In 1993, the death of former deputy White House counsel Vince Foster was ruled a suicide. Additionally, no suspect has been identified in the 2016 murder of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich.