CHICAGO — A former chief fundraiser for ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich died Saturday, just days before he was to report to prison to begin a three-year sentence for tax offenses that included using his company’s money to pay gambling debts and claiming it as a business expense.
Christopher Kelly, 51, was reportedly found Friday night in a lumber yard parking lot in Country Club Hills, a town just southwest of Chicago, where police and the FBI searched for clues Saturday night, Mayor Dwight Welch said. He said they were investigating it as a suicide.
Kelly was taken to Cook County’s Stroger hospital by ambulance and was pronounced dead at 10:46 a.m., said spokesman Marcel Bright.
Bright said he did not know whether Kelly was conscious when he arrived in the emergency room or from where he was transported.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office planned to do an autopsy today.
Kelly, a suburban roofing contractor, was charged along with the former governor in an indictment alleging Blagojevich sought to sell or trade President Barack Obama’s former seat in the U.S. Senate.
