‘D.C. Madam’ Is Found Dead, Apparently in a Suicide
The Associated Press
Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who apparently hanged herself, was convicted two weeks ago of running a Washington call-girl ring that catered to the capital’s power elite.
/vi-assets/static-assets/favicon-d2483f10ef688e6f89e23806b9700298.ico
TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. (AP)  A woman convicted two weeks ago of running a Washington call-girl ring that catered to the capital’s power elite was found dead here Thursday, and the authorities said she had apparently hanged herself.

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.

Ms. Palfrey, who had quickly become known as the D.C. Madam when the case against her began unfolding, apparently hanged herself from the shed’s ceiling with nylon rope, the police said. Her mother, Blanche Palfrey, discovered the body.

Blanche Palfrey had no sign that her daughter was suicidal, and there was no immediate indication that alcohol or drugs were involved, Capt. Jeffrey Young of the Tarpon Springs Police Department said.

A man who answered a phone listed for the elder Ms. Palfrey declined to comment.

Preston Burton, a lawyer who represented Deborah Jeane Palfrey at her trial, said, “This is tragic news, and my heart goes out to her mother.”

A federal jury in Washington found Ms. Palfrey guilty on April 15 of running a prostitution service that catered to powerful figures including Senator David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana. She was convicted of money laundering, using the mail for illegal purposes and racketeering.

Ms. Palfrey had denied that her escort service had been involved in prostitution, saying that if any of the women had engaged in sexual acts for money, they had done so without her knowledge.

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.”

Despite that threat, Ms. Palfrey’s trial concluded without the testimony of either Mr. Vitter or another particularly prominent client, Randall L. Tobias. Mr. Tobias resigned as a senior State Department official last year after he had been linked to the escort service, though he said he had used it only for massages. Mr. Vitter, who is married and has four children, remains a first-term member of the Senate.

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.

One of the escort service’s employees was Brandy Britton, a former professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who was arrested on prostitution charges in 2006. Ms. Britton committed suicide in January before she could go to trial.