MADAM SUICIDE TRAGEDY
US News
Amy Green
Facing up to five years in prison for running Washington’s most notorious escort service, “DC Madam” Deborah Jeane Palfrey killed herself...
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New York Post
Facing up to five years in prison for running Washington’s most notorious escort service, “DC Madam” Deborah Jeane Palfrey killed herself yesterday in a storage shed at her mother’s Florida home, authorities said.

Palfrey – convicted last month of running a $2 million prostitution ring – was found hanging from a nylon rope by her 76-year-old mother in Tarpon Springs, about 20 miles northwest of Tampa.

Blanche Palfrey had grown worried after waking from a nap and noticing her daughter was missing.

The rope had been affixed to a metal beam in a shed next to the mother’s trailer.

“Handwritten notes were found on scene that describe the victim’s intention to take her life, and foul play does not appear to be involved,” Tarpon Springs Police Capt. Jeffrey Young said.

The 52-year-old madam ran a ring famous for a power-packed “little black book” of clients, which included Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican.

She was convicted April 15 on charges including money laundering and racketeering.

Palfrey had faced 57 to 71 months behind bars. She was to be sentenced on July 24.

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

Dan Moldea, an author who had befriended Palfrey, said she had been optimistic about her trial – even when the case went to the jury.

Following her conviction, Moldea sent her two e-mails but never heard back.

After hearing of her death yesterday, he recalled a conversation last year in which the subject of prison came up.

Moldea said Palfrey told him she would rather “commit suicide first” than go to prison.

Palfrey had claimed her company, Pamela Martin and Associates, provided only legal sexual fantasies to clients. She said she had no idea her employees had provided sexual favors for money.

Palfrey wasn’t the first person connected to the sex ring to commit suicide. Brandy Britton, one of the accused escorts, killed herself in January before she was scheduled to go to trial.

Britton was a professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, in addition to being a hooker.

Palfrey had vowed she would never do what Britton did.

“I guess I’m made of something that Brandy Britton wasn’t made of,” she had said.