Mark Salling, 35, has died, confirms his lawyer, Michael J. Proctor, in a statement to HollywoodLife. “I can confirm that Mark Salling passed away early this morning. Mark was a gentle and loving person, a person of great creativity, who was doing his best to atone for some serious mistakes and errors of judgment,” the statement read. “He is survived by his mother and father, and his brother. The Salling family appreciates the support they have been receiving and asks for their privacy to be respected.” The actor best known for his longtime role on Glee was reportedly found dead near the Los Angeles River in Sunland, California, as first reported by TMZ. Though the report claims the Mark’s death was an “apparent suicide” according to law enforcement, there is no confirmed information about how he died. However, investigators tell us that Mark may have died from hanging and was found at little league field near the LA River. They added that his next of kin have not been notified yet.
UPDATE: Mark’s cause of death has been confirmed.
UPDATE: A member of Mark’s family reportedly went to the police late last night to file a missing person’s report, according to new information from TMZ. Police were asked to do a “welfare check,” that somehow led them to discover his body at the baseball field. There was no suicide note found — he was found by pure luck, according to TMZ.
Mark’s sudden death comes just months after he plead guilty to the possession of child pornography in October 2017. The former actor was awaiting sentencing, which was scheduled to take place in March 2018. He was reportedly facing anywhere from four to seven years in prison for the possession of child pornography, which allegedly included prepubescent minors. It has been reported that Mark was in possession of over 50,000 images of underage children when he was arrested in 2015. Mark’s guilty plea came after he negotiated an agreement with prosecutors in hopes of a lighter prison sentence.
In October 2017 it was reported that Mark had attempted suicide by slicing his wrists. Mark’s lawyer adamantly denied the reports and stated at the time that Mark was “physically healthy” and “focused on atonement, accepting responsibility, and learning from his past mistakes.”