JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Spence Jackson, spokesman for the late Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich, apparently believed he would face unemployment in the wake of his boss’ suicide last month. And that, according to a note Jackson left, was the reason he took his own life Friday.
Jackson left a suicide note saying he couldn’t take “being unemployed again,” before shooting and killing himself Friday, Jefferson City police said Tuesday.
Jackson died of “a single gunshot wound to the head,” Jefferson City Police Capt. Doug Shoemaker confirmed Tuesday.
Jackson, 44, apparently shot himself in his Jefferson City apartment, where he lived alone. Jackson’s mother called police to his home shortly after 7 p.m. Sunday when she couldn’t reach him. Police found Jackson dead in his bedroom. They recovered a .357 Magnum revolver, a spent cartridge and the note.
The note police found was dated Friday, which coincides with other indications of when Jackson killed himself, said Shoemaker.
That means his death came a month – almost to the day – after his boss, Schweich, the Missouri auditor and Republican gubernatorial candidate, took his own life in the same manner.
According the Shoemaker, Jackson’s note read, in its entirety: “I’m so sorry. I just can’t take being unemployed again.”
Like many political professionals, Jackson has repeatedly jumped between various governmental and political jobs. His professional profile on Linkedin.com indicates a 16-month employment gap in 2009 and 2010, between stints with the Missouri Department of Economic Development and Jordan Valley Community Health Center.
There’s been no confirmation that Jackson was being fired from the state auditor’s office in the wake of Schweich’s death. However, Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon appointed a Democratic interim auditor, John Watson, and is expected to appoint a Democratic permanent replacement. Jackson, as a career Republican aide, was unlikely to remain as a top official in such an office.
Jackson had been Schweich’s media director for almost four years. In that capacity, Jackson publicly announced Schweich’s death last month, and he was a major player in the weeks of political turmoil that followed.
Police haven’t confirmed any information to link Jackson’s death to any political issue. Still, Shoemaker had earlier said Jefferson City police have contacted authorities in Clayton, where Schweich died.
On Feb. 26, Schweich, a front-runner for the Republican nomination for governor, shot himself in the head in his Clayton home after voicing concern about the tactics against him by fellow Republicans in the GOP primary campaign.
Shoemaker said Tuesday that Jackson didn’t take a sick day Friday, as one source cited by the Post-Dispatch had indicated earlier. Shoemaker said Jackson was at work Friday, but didn’t return after leaving for lunch around noon.
As a long-time veteran of Republican government posts in Missouri, Jackson worked with former Gov. Matt Blunt, former U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, and on the 2008 campaign of gubernatorial candidate Sarah Steelman.
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