SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California man apparently wrote and delivered his own obituary to his local newspaper Tuesday, then hanged himself from a bridge.
“An explanation might be in order,” Allan Leo Peters II of Placerville, Calif., wrote in a suicide note that was posted in part Wednesday on the website of the Mountain Democrat newspaper in Placerville, Calif. “Yes, I have hanged myself (At least I hope I did). … I have had emphysema for the past few years, and lately it has been really hard to struggle to even catch a breath. I really cannot convey to you how very hard it was even to try to take a very deep breath. … My life has been drastically altered in the past few years, and I believe in euthanasia.”
Peters’ body was found shortly after 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, hanging from an old concrete bridge, said Lt. Bryan Golmitz of the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office.
Peters, 64, left information at the scene directing coroner’s officials on how to notify his next of kin, Golmitz said.
An envelope containing Peters’ obituary, his suicide note and a money order to cover the obituary costs appeared at the Mountain Democrat on Tuesday night but went unopened until about 8 a.m. Wednesday, “about a half-hour too late,” said Ken Paglia, the reporter covering the story. When newspaper employees saw the contents of the envelope, they called 911, he said.
The note also included thanks to Green Valley Community Church, El Dorado County and several local businesses, including the True Value Hardware store Peters frequented for his work.
“He was in here constantly,” said Jeff Gutierrez, the operations manager. “He just loved to talk.”
