Education

Authorities Say Teacher Died By Apparent Suicide Days After Being Charged With Rape And Sodomy Of Student

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Marlo Safi Culture Reporter
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An Alabama teacher who was charged with having sex with two underage students and one count of sodomy was found in her home Saturday morning, dead from an apparent suicide, authorities said according to numerous sources.

Leslie Gillespie, 44, died from what “appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Scott Norwood, the Lawrence County coroner said, according to AL.com.

Two days earlier, Gillespie, an English teacher at R.A. Hubbard High School, was charged with two counts of a school employee engaging in a sex act with a student under the age of 19, and one count each of second-degree rape and sodomy. (RELATED: Former Teacher Of The Year Arrested On Rape And Sodomy Charges Involving Student)

The two students were ages 15 and 16 at the time of the alleged offenses, court records showed, according to AL.com. The sexual contact allegedly happened in September 2020 when Gillespie met with the two students in her classroom after school, a sheriff’s office investigator reportedly said. 

Gillespie was taken into custody Thursday and released on $60,000 bail later that day, AL.com reported. 

R.A. Hubbard High School is part of the Lawrence County School District and is located in North Courtland, roughly 30 miles south of the Tennessee border. Gillespie was honored as the school’s teacher of the year in 2019. 

Lawrence County School Superintendent Jon Bret Smith indicated in a statement to WLOX that Gillespie was an employee at the school at the time of the arrest. 

Days before Gillespie was taken into custody, a high school teacher in Florida died by suicide after being arrested for allegedly soliciting nude photos from minors online. (RELATED: High School Teacher Who Allegedly Solicited Nude Photos From Child Online Died By Suicide After Arrest)