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| Michael Scott (CPS photo) |
Posted: Thursday, 19 November 2009 9:09AM
As evidence points to suicide, Scott family said considering 2nd autopsy
Bob Roberts Reporting
WBBM Newsradio 780
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CHICAGO (WBBM) -- Evidence of gunshot residue on Michael Scott's left hand offers the strongest indication to date that the Chicago Board of Education President took his own life. But, the Chicago Sun-Times reports, the family of the Chicago School Board president was weighing an independent autopsy nonetheless.
Police have determined that the .380 caliber gun found beneath Scott's body had belonged to Scott for nearly three decades, and say gunshot residue was found on Scott's left hand.
Despite that, Police Supt. Jody Weis said Wednesday that he wants to see the results of ballistics tests and video surveillance cameras, which he expects next week, before concluding that Scott shot himself in the head.
Despite the mounting evidence in the case, Weis said he is no closer to answering one critical question: Why.
"That, unfortunately, is a question that only Michael would know," Weis said. "We have no idea. It's impossible to try to figure out what goes through people's minds, but really there's no indication of anything that would suggest why this might have happened."
Two cameras that could have provided police with the best video of the spot where Scott, 60, was found Monday were not working. Weis said the cameras were mounted in a condo directly across the river, but he said when the owner vacated the unit, the cameras were disconnected.
He said detectives continue to work with Office of Emergency Management and Communications personnel to study video on the route Scott would have taken to the rear of the Apparel Mart, at 350 N. Orleans St., from his sister's assisted care facility.
Weis said police have now pinpointed Scott's departure time from the facility at 4:15 p.m. Sunday. Scott's Cadillac was first spotted behind the Apparel Mart at 4:50 p.m., and was spotted again at 6:30 p.m., 10:30 p.m. and around 2 a.m., at which time a Chicago Police patrol officer issued the car a parking ticket.
Scott's family had contacted police to report him missing at 12:15 a.m., but Weis said Scott had not yet appeared on police computers because of the time it took to interview the family, which he said has been completely cooperative from the beginning.
Weis said the family is unable to think of any physical problem that Scott had that could have made him despondent.
Police have reviewed Scott's cell phone usage. Weis said Scott's wife told detectives that he did not send text messages. The last outgoing call was made at 3:46 p.m. Sunday, when he was still at the assisted care facility. Weis said there is no indication that Scott made anything other than routine phone calls in the days immediately preceding his death.
The gun was one that Scott purchased legally in Chicago in 1980, a year before the city banned new handgun registrations. However, Weis said Scott had not maintained his annual registration, so technically, he possessed the gun illegally.
It was unclear if Scott kept the gun in his car for protection. Friends said Scott was well known to travel without a bodyguard.
Weis said he has "no complaint, no problem" with Chief Cook County Medical Examiner Nancy Lynne Jones, even though Dr. Jones accused police officers of breaking state law by moving the body Monday before notifying her office.
In fact, Weis said, the reason police were able to get a positive gunshot residue test on the left-handed Scott is because they moved the body from the water quickly.
Weis said he has taken such steps in the past "to preserve evidence" and said it was the right call Monday.
He said police detectives and the medical examiner have "a different set of tests," and said police often take longer to complete their investigation.
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