Police and EMS were called to 76 Falls around 7:58 Sunday morning after a call was made describing a man in his car unresponsive with blood on his face.
Scott Anthony Mitchell, 44, of Gurnee, Illinois, was found in his 2023 BMW i400, with a gun shot wound to the head shortly after the call came through.
According to the sheriff, two women from Indiana were driving around and wanted to see 76 Falls before they left town for their home. Upon arriving at 76 Falls, they noticed Mitchell in the car slumped over with blood on his face.
“He was an eighth grade teacher,” Sheriff Ricky Marcum said. “There is no known reason why he came to Clinton County. It was a self-inflicted gun shot wound to the head. The gun was still in his hand and I did a GSR (gun shot residue) test on his hand, but it looks exactly like what it is.”
Marcum said Gurnee, Illinois, is almost an eight hour drive from Clinton County, 484 miles from town to town.
“We got a hold of the sheriff’s office there and they went and did the death notification,” Marcum said. “They went through his room, and they found a note that said he had some stuff on his mind and had been dealing with stuff for a long time. Shot himself with a Glock 27, a little sub-compact. No connection that we can find. He probably just picked out a rural area and just drove to it.”
No official time of death has been released, but Coroner Lonnie Scott suspects Mitchell wasn’t there for a long period of time.
Scott said rigor mortis hadn’t even set in when they arrived on scene.
“I hate for any of those situations to happen because we don’t know what’s going on,” Marcum said.
The investigation is still ongoing by the Clinton County Sheriff’s Department and the Clinton County Coroner’s office.
Albany Police Department assisted at the scene along with Clinton County EMS.

Above, Scott Mitchell, 44, of Gurnee, Illinois, was transported from his vehicle to the Coroner’s van Sunday morning after he was found in the 76 Falls Park parking lot, with a self-inflicted gun shot wound.