More information is now coming in after the suicide of John Geddert.
Last week, numerous athletes trained by Olympic coach John Geddert felt a moment of victory when he was charged with abusing young gymnasts. It would not last long as hours later, the news would come down that he took the cowards way out by committing suicide.
Geddert, a tough coach who worked with convicted sex offender Larry Nassar and trained the Fierce Five team that won Olympic gold in 2012, was charged last week with 24 felonies, including counts of human trafficking and forced labor causing injury as well as criminal sexual conduct.
TMZ Sports has since gotten more information into what happened on that fateful day last week that led to his death.
“A family member called 911 on Feb. 25 when Geddert failed to turn himself into law enforcement officials to face 24 criminal charges stemming from alleged misconduct during his career as a gymnastics coach.
According to a 911 call released by officials, a woman who claims to be a family member says they started tracking Geddert’s phone when he didn’t show up at the scheduled surrender site … and used GPS to locate him at a rest area in Michigan.
When they got to the scene, they found Geddert dead next to a dumpster with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
The woman on the 911 call is in tears as she describes the scene to the dispatcher.
“He’s not in a vehicle … he’s on the ground by the dumpster.”
Former Michigan State gymnast Lindsey Lemke found no closure in his suicide.
“With the charges coming out, it was like a light at the end of the tunnel that we’re going to get justice, this is coming to an end for us, our healing process will continue,” Lemke, 25, told ABC News. “To then all of a sudden get the news that he committed suicide. It was almost unbelievable at first.”
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“A lot of us girls are still suffering and trying to heal. In the blink of an eye, we had that taken away from us. We’ll never have closure, we’ll never have answers, we’ll never get to see him convicted,” she added.
Lemke recalled one situation when Geddert hit her with a mat because she tripped and fell into a vault apparatus during a practice.
“He had a temper that he couldn’t control, and he wanted to instill fear in kids,” Lemke alleged.
Following Geddert’s death, USAG told ABC News, “We had hoped that news of the criminal charges being brought against John Geddert would lead to justice through the legal process…Our thoughts are with the gymnastics community as they grapple with the complex emotions of this week’s events.”
