D.C. Madam commits suicide in Tarpon Springs

[A Tarpon Springs detective discusses the case outside the home where Palfrey's body was found. Bill Serne | Times]
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Deborah Jeane Palfrey, better known as the "D.C. Madam,"  hanged herself in a storage shed next to her mother's Tarpon Springs home, police said Thursday.

Tarpon Springs detectives said handwritten notes were found that describe the victim's intention to take her life, and foul play does not appear to be involved.

Palfrey (left), 52, was staying with her mother Blanche at the Sun Valley Estates Mobile Home Park, 167 Cypress Ave. Police said Blanche Palfrey told them she woke up after taking a nap and began to search for her daughter. After noticing a three-wheeled bicycle on her lawn that was normally stored in the shed, she opened the shed's door and saw her daughter's body hanging from a metal beam, police said. She called 911 at about 10:52 a.m.

Detectives of the Tarpon Springs Police Department are working with Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Forensics Unit, Pinellas County Medical Examiner's Office and the FBI.

By 2 p.m., the usually quiet mobile home park was teeming with patrol cars and television satellite trucks. Blanche Palfrey's neighbors said she has lived at the park for about 14 years.

"She's always been there for people, always taking care of people," said Lucy Workman, 60.

Workman said she was only vaguely aware that her friend had a connection to the infamous D.C. Madam.

"I figured that if she wanted to talk to me about it, she would have talked to me," Workman said.

Neighbor Terry MacLaren, 55, said no one knew Deborah Jeane Palfrey was visiting before they saw the patrol cars.

"She didn't want to go to jail, from what I hear," MacLaren said. "That's the rumor around here this morning."

Palfrey was convicted April 15 by a federal jury of running a prostitution service that catered to members of Washington's political elite, including Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican.

She had denied her escort service engaged in prostitution, saying that if any of the women engaged in sex acts for money, they did so without her knowledge.

She was convicted of money laundering, using the mail for illegal purposes and racketeering. Palfrey faced a maximum of 55 years in prison and was free pending her sentencing July 24.

Prosecutors had asked the judge to keep Palfrey locked up until her sentencing. But the judge refused, saying she was intelligent and knew she would be punished if she tried to flee the country.

Her attorney Preston Burton said at the time that Palfrey "is, I think, holding up fine. "She's with her mother."

In response to the news, Burton released a statement Thursday, saying "This is tragic news. My heart goes out to her mother."

Prosecutors said Palfrey operated the prostitution service for 13 years.

Her trial concluded without revealing many new details about the service or its clients. Vitter was among possible witnesses, but did not take the stand.

Vitter, a first-term senator who is married and has four children, has acknowledged being involved with Palfrey's escort service and has apologized for what he called a "very serious sin." But he avoided commenting further.

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

Last year, Palfrey said she, too, was humiliated by her prostitution charges, but said: "I guess I'm made of something that Brandy Britton wasn't made of."

Times staff writers. Information from the Associated Press and Washington Post was used in this report

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