A former aide to US Senator Lamar Alexander hanged himself in his parents’ basement in Maryland as he awaited trial on child pornography charges, officials said Friday.
Ryan Loskarn, 35, was pronounced dead in Sykesville, Md., on Thursday, said Bruce Goldfarb, a spokesman for the Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore. He said the death was ruled a suicide.
Family members called police after finding Loskarn unresponsive in the basement, where he had been living, the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement posted on its website.
A federal judge had allowed Loskarn to live with his parents while awaiting trial on charges of possession and attempted distribution of child pornography.
Loskarn had been chief of staff for Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, for two years before his arrest. He was fired immediately after his arrest.