publisher Philip Merrill Suicide Confirmed; "contact shotgun wound", i.e., fired at close range
Shrike
By Elizabeth Williamson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 24, 2006; Page B05
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
The Maryland medical examiner's office and police confirmed
yesterday that publisher Philip Merrill, whose body was found
this week in the Chesapeake Bay, died of a self-inflicted shotgun
wound to the head.
Merrill, 72, suffered a "contact shotgun wound," the medical
examiner's office said, meaning that the shotgun was fired at
close range. The autopsy confirmed that he committed suicide,
said Shirl Walker, a spokeswoman for the office.
Merrill, whose Annapolis-based publishing holdings included
Washingtonian magazine and the Capital, a daily newspaper,
disappeared June 10 after leaving his Severn River home, alone at
the helm of his 41-foot sailboat, Merrilly. His body was found by
a boater on the ninth day of an intensive police search.
In the statement closing their investigation, Maryland Natural
Resources police provided new details about Merrill's death.
The statement said their involvement in the case began when they
responded June 10 to a report of an unattended sailboat near
Breezy Point in Calvert County, 20 miles south of Merrill's home.
Onboard were Merrill's cellphone; his wallet, which contained a
large amount of money; and, in the rear of the boat, what
appeared to be blood.
When they phoned his home, investigators said, Merrill's family
told them he had gone sailing that afternoon and failed to return
at the expected time.
During their investigation, police said, the family also told
them that "Merrill had been suffering from medical problems and
had been recently despondent." At the same time, police said,
"information from an outside source" indicated that Merrill had
bought a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun within a week of his
disappearance.
The shotgun has not been found.
On the ninth day of a search that included a half-dozen boats,
helicopters and members of several law enforcement agencies, a
recreational boater saw Merrill's body floating about 11 miles
from where the boat was found adrift and called police.
Investigators initially identified Merrill by his shirt, which
bore the name of his boat. The publisher "had suffered
significant trauma to the head. . . . In addition, an eight-pound
mushroom anchor was found tied to Merrill's lower left leg," the
statement said.
A full autopsy report will be released in two to three months,
said Walker, the medical examiner spokeswoman.