BRUNSWICK, Ga. -- Sue Taylor and her husband Clyde have been neighbors and friends of Tom Sublett for quite some time. So hearing that the county commissioner's death was likely a suicide was hard to swallow.
"We've known very few people who've committed suicide. Usually we've been able to come up with a reason. In this case it's been hard to come up with a reason," says Taylor.
Tom Sublett's body was found floating in the waters off St. Simons Island in December. Police say his hands were bound in front of him and he was shot in the head.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has not confirmed or denied Sublett's death was a suicide. But the Sublett family attorney, Mark Johnson, says the state medical examiner met with the family and told them Sublett's death is consistent with a suicide. Johnson says Tom's family doesn't believe it.
"They disagree with it for a number of reasons. In terms of a lot of unanswered questions about the evidence. And just more personally there were none of the traditional indicators that would be consistent with the finding of suicide," he says.
Sue Taylor says it was something she never suspected either. "You never know what's going on in people's minds and what they're dealing with," she says.
Johnson says if the report confirms suicide, the family will be requesting a coroner's inquest.
