Content warning: This story discusses suicide.
A former Fox News staffer was found dead in her Florida home.
Journalist Jennifer Eckhart’s body was discovered inside the residence on Sept. 19, according to a Martin County Sheriff’s Office incident report obtained by People. She was 36.
Sheriff spokesperson Christine Christofek, told the outlet in a Sept. 21 statement, “This death has been ruled a suicide.”
Eckhart had been detained six times in the past 18 months under Florida’s Baker Act, which allows individuals experiencing a severe mental health crisis to be held for 72 hours, Sheriff John Budensiek shared in a Sept. 21 press conference.
“She spent a seven-week period in a mental health facility trying to get help for all her suicidal ideology,” he said, “and had been out of that facility for one week.”
Budensiek said their investigation discovered that Eckhart had stopped taking her medication and had written in her personal ledger, “I need to kill myself. It’s the last thing to do.”