ELIZABETHTOWN—The Elizabethtown fire chief is dead, apparently of a suicide.
The scene on Pearl Street at about 7:30 this evening.
Sheriff JT Fricker advised earlier that he was notified in the early evening hours of Tuesday, July 23, 2013, that Tim Dillard, the most recent fire chief of E-town, was the apparent victim of a suicide.
Dillard did not go to work today, Fricker said, and would not answer either of his cell phones. Out of concern, officers were dispatched to his home where they found his body.
Sources close to the case say lividity had set in, so it’s undetermined how long ago the apparent suicide occurred.
Fricker did note that officers secured the scene and notified the Illinois State Police; they arrived several hours later, and blocked off both ends of Pearl Street in Elizabethtown upon which the residence is located.
Fricker said reports made to him were that it appeared Dillard had disconnected a gas line at his residence; this is believed to be the cause of death at this time, but the investigation is ongoing.
Disclosure last had contact with Dillard on Sunday, July 21, when discussing with him issues related to a front-page story about his direct involvement with the ongoing attempted prosecution of Fricker’s father, Jerry Dean Fricker, by Hardin County State’s Attorney Tara Wallace, after it was revealed to Disclosure that Dillard could have been the catalyst that sparked the investigation in the first place. While Dillard had been in contact with Disclosure over the matter more than two years ago, and had been discussing the case with the paper prior to this past weekend, he gave no indication that he was in any way considering doing such a thing as killing himself. Instead, he did reiterate that he was in fear for his safety from sources higher up than the local law enforcement if he were revealed as the one who reported Jerry Dean Fricker to the authorities, but didn’t seem unstable enough to do such a thing as take his own life over the matter.
We’ll have more on this as it develops, including how Wallace is going to respond to the situation; keep checking back.