I’m Not Usually A Conspiracy Theorist, But When A Madam “Commits Suicide” After Threatening to Name Names …

Deborah Jeane Palfrey, aka “the D.C. Madam, has apparently committed suicide. Her death comes just two weeks after she was convicted of operating an escort service whose clientèle were said to include powerful men in the nation’s capital.

The New York Times has the story:

The body of the woman, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, 52, was found in a shed at her mother’s home here about 20 miles northwest of Tampa. The police said Ms. Palfrey had left a notebook containing at least two suicide notes and other messages to her family, but they did not give additional details.

This part of the story gives me pause:

In the aftermath of her conviction, she remained free while awaiting sentencing on July 24. Under sentencing guidelines, she faced about five or six years in prison, Channing Phillips, the spokesman for the United States attorney in the District of Columbia, said Thursday.

But Ms. Palfrey had vowed that she would never go to prison. When she disclosed telephone records last year that revealed the identity of some of her clients, she told ABC: “I’m sure as heck not going to be going to federal prison for one day, let alone four to eight years, because I’m shy about bringing in the deputy secretary of whatever. Not for a second. I’ll bring every last one of them in if necessary.”

In, ummmm, fairness to anyone with a motive to want her dead, there is this:

Dan Moldea, a Washington writer who befriended Ms. Palfrey while considering writing a book about her, said she had been cautiously optimistic about her trial.

After the conviction, however, Mr. Moldea sent her two messages but did not hear back, he said.

After hearing of her death Thursday, he recalled a conversation over dinner last year when the subject of prison came up.

“I will commit suicide first,” he remembered her saying.