Miss. State Rep. Jessica Upshaw dead in apparent suicide

MENDENHALL, Miss. Authorities say they are investigating the apparent suicide of a state legislator in Mississippi.

Simpson County Sheriff Kenneth Lewis told local news outlets that Rep. Jessica Upshaw appeared to have shot herself in the head at a home in Mendenhall on Sunday. The town is about 30 miles southeast of Jackson, the state capital. She was 53.

The sheriff told The Clarion-Ledger that Upshaw was found at the home of former state Rep. Clint Rotenberry. He has not been arrested.

Upshaw was an attorney who had been a lawmaker since 2004. She was a Republican from Diamondhead along the state's coast in Hancock County. Mendenhall is about 110 miles away from her hometown.

Upshaw had a daughter and a grandchild, reports the Sun Herald newspaper.

The sheriff did not return a phone call from The Associated Press. Rotenberry did not answer his phone.

The incident is still under investigation and no charges have been filed.