Writer’s Death by Hanging Is Ruled a Suicide

CHICAGO — Mystery writer Eugene Izzi’s death by hanging last month has been ruled a suicide, consigning to fiction a theory that he was murdered by a subject of one of his books, authorities said Thursday.

The Cook County medical examiner ruled late Wednesday that Izzi, 43, hanged himself by a rope outside his downtown office on Dec. 7.

An anti-depressant drug was found in his system and he was known to be undergoing therapy for depression. He was found wearing a bulletproof vest and had a can of chemical repellent and brass knuckles in his pockets.

Police also found computer discs containing an 800-page manuscript that included eerie details matching the circumstances of Izzi’s own death. In one scene, the protagonist, a writer, is dangled outside a window by a member of a neo-Nazi group he is investigating but manages to climb back in and gun down his adversary.

Some theorized that Izzi, who did copious research for many of his 16 books, may have been experimenting with the rope around his neck to achieve realism for his writing.