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CNN Live Saturday

Death of Former Enron Executive Ruled Suicide

Aired January 26, 2002 - 18:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: The death of a former Enron executive has been ruled now a suicide. An investigator with a Harris County, Texas medical examiner's office says that Clifford Baxter shot himself in the head yesterday. Baxter's death adds to the fallout surrounding the financial demise of Enron, and CNNfn's Fred Katayama is covering this story for us. He's joining us now from Houston. What's the latest from there?

FRED KATAYAMA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Catherine, an investigator at the county medical's office tells CNN that J. Clifford Baxter was found with a penetrating gunshot wound to the head. It was self-inflicted. She added that there were no signs of foul play. Police in Sugar Land, Texas where Baxter was living have no comment on the situation. They say expect a statement at 10:00 a.m. local time, 11:00 a.m. Eastern on Monday.

Now Baxter was found dead at 2:30 a.m. Friday in his car parked near his home in Sugar Land. Police found a 38-caliber revolver inside the car. Earlier I spoke with some friends of Baxter, they said they noticed that Baxter was disappointed, a bit depressed, and concerned over the collapse of his firm Enron. Baxter had been vice chairman. He resigned from the company in May of 2001, a half-year before the company's collapse.

Now earlier today, in a separate matter in a corporate case, we've learned that Enron is closer to naming a new chief executive. Enron's board is meeting today, and a source familiar with the search tells CNN that the front-runner is Stephen Cooper. He's a bankruptcy turnaround specialist at the New York-based firm Zoflo Cooper.

The other candidate, we're told, is a male executive. That's about as much as we know. The source says expect an announcement in three to four days. As you may recall, the chief executive of Enron, Ken Lay, suddenly stepped down earlier this week -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Well, Fred, this is such a tragic story, but is there any indication on why he would actually take such a drastic move?

KATAYAMA: Well, Catherine, as I said earlier, some of the friends noted that he seemed a bit depressed of late, and when you take into consideration that Baxter was named in that internal memo written by the whistler-blower Sherron Watkins, and in that memo Watkins said that Baxter questioned the accounting practices of Enron. He brought it up before Enron's then President Jeff Skilling. Now keep in mind that it was those accounting practices that eventually led to the collapse of Enron. Also, Baxter was named in some shareholder lawsuits. He was one of 29 defendants named and so, he may have been facing pressure on the legal front plus some congressional investigators wanted to talk to him. In fact, they were talking to his lawyer the day that his lawyer later found out, and the news media found out that he had actually died earlier that day -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: All right, thank you, Fred Katayama joining us from Houston. Thanks Fred.

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