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CNN Live Saturday

Death of Former Enron Executive Confirmed as Suicide

Aired January 26, 2002 - 22:25   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: Moving on now to the death of a former Enron executive. It is now been ruled a suicide. The Harris County Texas Medical examiner's office confirmed today that Clifford Baxter shot himself in the head. His death underscores the demise of a company which was once a darling of Wall Street.

Here is CNNfn's Fred Katayama.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRED KATAYAMA, CNNfn CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The coroner's office has ruled the death a suicide. An investigator with Harris County Medical Examiners 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.

(voice-over): Police in Sugar Land, Texas, where Baxter had been living, had no comment. They're expected to release a statement at 10:00 a.m. local time, 11:00 Eastern on Monday.

(on camera): Now Baxter was found dead in his car at 2:30 a.m. Friday near his home in Sugar Land, Texas, just outside of Houston.

(voice-over): Earlier, I spoke with some friends of Baxter. And they noted that he was feeling a bit depressed, disappointed and concerned over the collapse of his former employer, Enron, where Baxter had formerly served as vice chairman. He stepped down in March 2001.

(on camera): Now his friends noted that he used to support a head of salt and pepper gray hair, but his hair turned completely white in just a span of one month. They said surely there must be signs of stress that he was suffering from.

(voice-over): Now Baxter was named in an internal memo written by the whistle blower, Sherron Watkins. And in that memo, Watkins noted that Baxter had questioned the accounting practices of Enron, accounting practices that eventually led to the collapse of the company.

(on camera): In a separate news, Enron is closer to naming a new chief executive. A source close to the search tells CNN that the board of directors has narrowed the list of candidates to just two semi-finalists. The front-runner is Steven Cooper. He's a bankruptcy reorganization specialist at the New York-based consulting firm Zolfo Cooper. A source says expect an announcement within three to four days. Another source says an announcement could come as early as this weekend.

I'm Fred Katayama, reporting from outside Enron's headquarters in Houston, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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