By M&C News Aug 18, 2006, 1:10 GMT
David Witt, 57, stepfather of embattled Tour de France winner Floyd Landis’ wife, Amber - Landis’ father-in-law, was found dead in his car after committing suicide, coroner's officials said Wednesday in San Diego.
Floyd Landis in Madrid. EPA/KIKO HUESCA
Witt was discovered at a parking garage Tuesday afternoon, said Paul Parker, an investigator with the San Diego County Medical Examiner. The death was ruled a suicide, Parker said.
"The Landis’s are devastated by the news of David's death," family spokesman Michael Henson told The Associated Press. "They loved him dearly, and they miss him."
There is no word on the reason for the action, or if it had anything to do with Landis’ public battle of doping.
"It could have been a few percentages of the whole maybe, or just another negative thing that he was depressed over," said a family friend, adding Witt had also been struggling under the strain of opening a new restaurant earlier this year.
According to the family spokesperson Henson “Witt and Landis served as best man at each other's weddings, Witt married Amber Landis' mother Rose, a schoolteacher, a short time after the younger couple married in 2000.”
The Tour de France has said it no longer considers Landis its champion.
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