NBC's Dateline Correspondent Andrea Canning announces the news:
Just got a call from Mindy McCready's best friend that she shot and killed herself this evening. My heart breaks for her two boys. RIP
Just got a call from Mindy McCready's best friend that she shot and killed herself this evening. My heart breaks for her two boys. RIP-- Andrea Canning
Born in Fort Myers, Florida, on Nov. 30, 1975, McCready began singing in church at the age of 3. She moved to Nashville when she was 18 in hopes of becoming a singer. McCready recorded her debut album, Ten Thousand Angels, in 1996.
In 1999, McCready released I'm Not So Tough, but the album was not commercially successful, and her record company dropped her. She signed with Capitol Records, but her 2002 album also had disappointing sales, so she was subsequently dropped.
In August 2004, McCready was arrested for using a fake prescription to obtain OxyContin. She pleaded guilty. Later that year, she was arrested for a DUI. She was found not guilty by a jury for drinking and driving, but was found guilty for driving with a suspended license.
In 2005, McCready's ex-boyfriend Billy McKnight was arrested for breaking into her home and then beating and choking her. In July of that year, she was found passed out in a lobby in a hotel in Florida after attempting suicide.
In September, when she was pregnant with McKnight's child, she attempted suicide again by overdosing on antidepressants. On March 25, 2006, McCready gave birth to her first son, Zander Ryan McCready.
The trouble continued: In 2007 she was sentenced to one year in jail after a fight with her mother in Fort Myers, Florida. The next year, McCready's parents gained custody of Zander.
In May 2010, McCready was taken to the hospital by her mother, Gayle Inge, who had found her incoherent and discovered she had taken "a lot" of painkillers. In January and February of 2010, McCready appeared on the third season of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, where she suffered from a seizure when she was in withdrawl.
McCready took her son Zander from her mother in late 2011. She fled to Arkansas with the child, while she was seven months pregnant. McCready was eventually found with Zander cowering in a closet in Arkansas.
On April 9, 2012, McCready gave birth to her second child, Zayne, who is the son of record producer David Wilson.
Wilson died on Jan. 13, 2013, from a gunshot wound, in Heber Springs, Arkansas. It was reported to have been self-inflicted, but this was later ruled inconclusive. In late January, McCready denied killing Wilson.
Mindy McCready's last tweet sent on Jan. 13, 2012:
@dancinjake Things have been hectic. But I'm still here..
@dancinjake Things have been hectic. But I'm still here..-- Mindy McCready
UPDATE - Feb. 17, 10:50 p.m.: Arkansas authorities confirm McCready died from a gunshot.
MORE: Singer Mindy McCready died of apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Arkansas authorities say. http://t.co/TIfKDPap - VW
MORE: Singer Mindy McCready died of apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Arkansas authorities say. http://t.co/TIfKDPap - VW-- The Associated Press
UPDATE - Feb. 18, 3:42 p.m.: Authorities found Wilson's dead dog next to McCready's body.
Sheriff Marty Moss said McCready was found dead on the front porch of her home in Heber Springs, where her boyfriend, musician David Wilson, died last month of a gunshot wound to the head.
"Based on what we have found at the scene at this time, we do believe that she took the life of the dog that we are being told by family members belonged to Mr. Wilson before she took her own life," Sheriff Marty Moss said.
[Via AP]