Police: No homicide in schools chief death

CHICAGO – Chicago police said Wednesday that tests revealed gunshot residue on the hand of Michael Scott – the strongest evidence that the president of the city’s school board took his own life.

In a news conference, Superintendent Jody Weis also said police divers recovered Scott’s money clip in the Chicago River waters near where Scott’s body was found early Monday. Weis said cash and credit cards were in the money clip, leading police to believe Scott was not the victim of robbery.

Weis stopped short of saying police believe Scott committed suicide, but his comments about what the investigation has uncovered – including evidence that Scott on Sunday afternoon drove directly to the area where his body was found the next day – clearly point in that direction. Weis stressed the investigation continued.

“I don’t want to make any judgment until we have all the facts,” Weis said.

Significantly, Weis also said police found no sign anyone was with Scott in the area where he was found, although he said investigators were analyzing security video. Perhaps the strongest suggestion that police believe Scott’s death was a suicide came when Weis was asked whether they had any explanation for Scott’s death.

“That unfortunately is a question that probably only Michael would know [the answer to],” Weis said.

The evidence about the gunshot residue bolsters the Cook County medical examiner’s office conclusion Scott committed suicide, particularly because residue was found on the left hand of the left-handed Scott. Earlier, Weis refused to rule out homicide and made statements that prompted the medical examiner’s office to reiterate the ruling in a news conference.

Weis said the gun found under Scott’s body was registered to Scott and that he bought it in 1981. But, Weis said, tests to determine whether that was the gun that killed Scott had yet to be completed.

Police have gone over Scott’s cell phone records and have spoken with those who he talked with on the phone and Weis said nothing was out of the ordinary in those conversations. Adding to the mystery of why Scott would have killed himself, Weis said investigators talked to family members and had no information that Scott suffered physical illness.