Singer’s past was troubled

McCready faced addiction, arrests

She said it again and again - on Twitter, Facebook, her blog and even in one of her songs: I’m still here.

Country singer Mindy McCready talked often and openly of her troubled past,one fraught with arrests, drug addiction, mental illness, suicide attempts and ugly custody battles over her oldest son.

Each time, she vowed to overcome her demons and resume what had been a promising musical career.

In January 2012, as she began writing book about her turbulent life, McCready posted this entry on her website’s blog:

“I haven’t had a hit in almost a decade. I’ve spent my fortune, tarnished my public view and made myself the brunt of punch line after punch line. I’ve been beaten, sued, robbed, arrested, jailed and evicted.

“But I’m still here. With a handful of people that I know and trust, a revived determination and both middle fingers up in the air, I’m ready. I’ve been here before. I’m a fighter. I’m down,but I’ll never be out.”

But just a year later, McCready, 37, found herself in the midst of speculation that she had something to do with her boyfriend David Wilson’s shooting death. She lost custody of her children. And she was ordered by a judge to check into a mental health/drug abuse rehabilitation facility.

On Sunday, Cleburne County deputies responding to a report of gunshots found McCready’s body on the front porch of the home she had shared with Wilson.

She died from a single self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.

Her body will be sent to the state Crime Laboratory for autopsy.

McCready leaves behind two young sons: Zander, 6, and Zayne, 10 months.

Fans struggled Monday to accept news of McCready’s death, wondering what - after so many years of much publicized troubles - had proved to be the tipping point for the country singer.

Wilson, who was Zayne’s father, died Jan. 13 of a gunshot wound at the couple’s Heber Springs home. His death has been characterized as self-inflicted, but there has been no official determination, prosecutors said.

While McCready wasn’t deemed a suspect by authorities, she still faced accusations and skepticism from the public.

At one point, McCready appeared on the Today show. Reporter Andrea Canning asked McCready if she had killed Wilson.

“God, no. Oh my God, no. He was my life. We were each other’s life,” a tearful Mc-Cready replied.

Don McSpaddin, prosecuting attorney of the 16th Judicial District, said Monday that “both deaths are under investigation and will be until we get everything back from the Crime Lab and a complete case file from the sheriff’s office.”

He declined to comment on the specifics of those investigations.

McCready’s children, taken from her in early February, are believed to remain in foster care, although state law prohibits the Department of Human Services from discussing whether specific children have been taken into its care.

“The law is designed that way so that we can protect children in the foster care system,” spokesman Amy Webb said.

“I can discuss the general process,” she added. “Ourworkers assess safety. If our caseworkers feel a child is at risk of harm, we absolutely take that child into our care. The child can be placed with an existing, approved foster family or with an appropriate relative. We then would work with the biological family toward reunification with the child.

“If during the course of the time we have the child the biological parent dies, we would then begin exploring our legal options. Those could include placing the child with an appropriate relative. Ultimately, that would be something for a judge to decide.”

Court offices were closed Monday, making it impossible to look for any documentation pertaining to McCready’s recent stay at a rehabilitation facility.

E! News previously reported that on Feb. 6, during an emergency hearing, a judge ordered the singer to check into a mental-health facility for psychiatric and alcohol abuse evaluations.

Two days later, McCready checked out, however, according to local ABC affiliate KATV-Channel 7, which shot video of the singer returning to her Heber Springs home. She and her father, Tim McCready of Florida, declined comment to the television crew.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 02/19/2013

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