Dan Johnson, a Republican candidate from Kentucky who has been accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in the basement of his home was found dead in his car of a single gunshot wound, in a secluded area of Mount Washington, in an apparent suicide.
Johnson was elected back in 2016, despite pressure to drop out of the race when Kentucky media outlets reported on Facebook posts of his in which he compared Barack and Michelle Obama to monkeys.
Reports of the sexual assault were first published by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting and aired on a local radio show. Johnson has since denied the allegations while preaching at his local church on Tuesday, where he said the reports were “totally false”. He also compared the allegations to those against Roy Moore, another Republican candidate who was defeated in an election on Wednesday, stating his belief that this is part of a plan to take down conservative republicans.
The woman, who was only 17 at the time, was at the house during a sleepover with his daughter. She says he woke her up and forced himself onto her. She reported the alleged incident back in 2013, but the case was closed after a brief investigation and no charges were ever filed.
On Wednesday just before 5 p.m. Johnson published a Facebook post asking for people to take care of his family, and stating that he has suffered from PTSD for over 16 years: “…a sickness that will take my life, I cannot handle it any longer. It has won this life, BUT HEAVEN IS MY HOME.”
A number of Kentucky politicians have since paid tribute to Johnson via social media, including Kentucky governor Matt Bevin, through a tweet stating, “Saddened to hear of tonight’s death of KY Representative Dan Johnson… My heart breaks for his family tonight.”
