Mindy McCready OD's

Troubled country singer hospitalized after overdose; also faces multiple charges in Arizona

By Sarah Hall Jul 26, 2005 3:35 PMTags

There's no denying that Mindy McCready has fallen on hard times.

The 29-year-old country singer remains hospitalized in Florida after what was described as a suicide attempt last Friday.

McCready was rushed to the unidentified Tampa-area hospital after she was found unconscious in a hotel lobby.

According to a police report, McCready had ingested large amounts of two substances and downed a hefty amount of alcohol. Authorities declined to identify the substances, as they said doing so would violate the singer's privacy.

On Monday, the singer's former attorney, Dennis Tomlin, said McCready was in intensive care. Tomlin also said he was no longer in McCready's employ and that she had retained a new attorney.

At the time she was discovered, McCready was in the Holiday Inn Harborside in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, accompanied by aspiring country singer William McKnight, who identified himself as her fiancé. He turned over to police a four-page suicide note attributed to McCready.

In the note, which was not released to the public, McCready mused about her troubled relationship with McKnight and bid farewell to friends and family members, according to a police report.

McKnight was arrested in Nashville in May on charges of attempted murder after he allegedly broke into McCready's home in a jealous rage and beat and choked her until she was unconscious.

Last month, he posted $130,000 bail and was released. The couple have apparently since reconciled.

McCready, who was reportedly in Florida visiting her mother, was charged last week with five counts in Arizona, including identity theft, unlawful use of transportation, unlawful imprisonment and hindering prosecution.

Details on the charges have not been made public. But Tomlin said McCready had been assisting Arizona authorities in an investigation into a con artist who had bilked her and other celebrities out of large sums of money.

He declined to discuss the matter further on Monday.

McCready, who scored a number one hit in 1996 with "Guys Do It All the Time," has faced numerous run-ins with the law in recent years.

In May, the troubled songbird was charged with driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license.

McCready denied that she was intoxicated at the time of her arrest, but said she was too scared to take a Breathalyzer test because she had not eaten and had downed two cocktails. In an interview with CNN's Larry King, she said she was hopeful that she would beat the charges.

Last year, McCready pleaded guilty to using a fake prescription to obtain the painkiller OxyContin at a pharmacy in Tennessee. She was fined $4,000, sentenced to three years of supervised probation and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.

McCready was due in a Tennessee courtroom Monday for a probation violation hearing. A judge ordered her attorney to produce a note from her doctor by Wednesday.

The singer is also scheduled to be arraigned this Friday on the charges she faces in Arizona.