LITTLE ROCK — PROBE CONTINUES: Since 37-year-old country singer Mindy McCready’s live-in boyfriend, David Wilson, died of a gunshot wound Jan. 13 in their shared home in Heber Springs, no obituary or notice of his funeral or memorial service has appeared in this paper or apparently anywhere else.
The only person who has been quoted as stating that Wilson’s death was due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound was McCready’s spokesman, who said it to The New York Post.
And there have been no updates from the Cleburne County sheriff’s office regarding the case since an initial news release issued after Wilson’s death. The release stated that the sheriff’s office had responded “to a report of a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” and “the investigation was progressing,” but that “at this time no charges have been filed” and that “the identity of the victim is currently being withheld pending notification of next of kin.”
But the lack of new information hasn’t been for lack of interest.
“You wouldn’t believe the number of people who are interested in this,” Sheriff Marty Moss tells Paper Trails, adding that his office has been flooded with requests for interviews from everyone from Good Morning America and the Today show to the National Enquirer.
“We’re choosing not to say anything about the case at this point,” Moss said Friday.
“But I can add that the Arkansas State Police is assisting us, and the body and some things from the home have been sent to the Crime Lab,” Moss said, adding that doing so is standard procedure.
And while at least one national tabloid has quoted Moss, the sheriff told Paper Trails he hasn’t given an interview to it or anyone else.
“A reporter and photographer came to our office last week, and I met with them briefly in the lobby but didn’t grant them an interview. The reporter mentioned that Mindy McCready’s spokesman was the only person who has described Wilson’s death as a suicide, which I affirmed, but he twisted it to make it appear as though I had granted him an interview.”
McCready, who gained fame in 1996 for her hit, “Guys Do It All the Time,” has not been charged with any crime, and authorities have not named her as a suspect.
Wilson, a 34-year-old songwriter and record producer who fathered McCready’s 9-month-old son, Zayne, was formerly connected to the Arkansas indie-pop band Boom! Kinetic before working as a musician in Nashville, Tenn.
According to media reports, McCready has led a troubled life filled with arrests, addictions and her own suicide attempts. McCready made headlines in late 2011 when she hid in a closet of the same Heber Springs home with her then-5-year-old son from a previous relationship during a custody battle.
Contact Linda Caillouet at (501) 399-3636 or at lcaillouet@arkan sasonline.com
Arkansas, Pages 13 on 01/27/2013