May 1, 2016
Deborah Jeane Palfrey was convicted of racketeering and money laundering on 15 April 2008 for running a prostitution ring in Washington DC.
Facing a prison sentence of up to 6 years, Palfrey hanged herself on 1 May 2008 in a storage shed outside her mother’s mobile home. The 52-year-old “DC Madam” left 2 suicide notes, one which called her conviction “a modern-day lynching” and the other describing her feeling of hopelessness: "You must comprehend there was no way out, I.E. 'exit strategy,' for me other than the one I have chosen here."
