New details have been released pertaining to the death of former Playmate Ashley Mattingly, TMZ reports.
According to an autopsy report by the Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office, the woman had committed suicide by putting a handgun in her mouth and pulling the trigger. According to the toxicology report, Mattingly, 33, had opiates and benzos in her system at the time of her demise.
— Am a Kenyan (@ama_kenyan) June 12, 2020
Playmate Ashley Mattingly Died From Gunshot Wound to Head Former Playboy Playmate Ashley Mattingly — a domestic violence survivor at the hands of Lane Garrison — took her own life with a gunshot to the head … according to her autopsy. Th… pic.twitter.com/wN11dMqVBC
Former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson tweeted in response to the story about Mattingly's death that nationwide lockdowns, like the one in place in the US in an effort to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, could kill the “vulnerable, lonely and depressed”.
Lockdowns kill. They kill the vulnerable, the lonely, the depressed, the unemployed, those who are trying to quit drugs and those who aren’t. They kill dog owners and gun owners. Lockdowns shake us all and some of us break. Lockdowns kill. pic.twitter.com/njrT2lpSdK
— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) June 12, 2020
Previously, the family of Ashley Mattingly, who was Playboy’s Miss March 2011, claimed the shelter-in-place order that was effective at the time had compounded the loneliness the young woman was suffering from.
Death in Solitude
The ex-Playmate was discovered dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound in her Austin, Texas, home in April, leaving behind a suicide note.
A toxicology report at the time showed Mattingly had opiates and benzodiazepines in her system.
Mattingly's sister, Christy Deweese, was earlier cited as claiming the young woman had been struggling with alcoholism and substance abuse.
Ashley Mattingly had been the victim of domestic violence, with her ex-boyfriend convicted of domestic battery in 2012.
To help deal with the challenges of loneliness, Mattingly’s family said she had adopted a golden retriever puppy.
In April, a member of Mattingly's family acknowledged that she had been "a very social person".
Ashley Mattingly’s Toxicology Report And Cause Of Death Revealed https://t.co/HBuXjqdBYQ pic.twitter.com/vGcCRUU1bd
— Andy Vermaut (@AndyVermaut) June 13, 2020
There is no clear evidence to confirm whether the coronavirus pandemic and state measures it triggered had contributed to the young woman’s inner struggles.
Suicides and Lockdowns
Some health experts have been warning that social distancing, self-isolation and quarantine measures due to the epidemic of the respiratory disease could potentially result in an increase in suicides.
Fox News reports that suicides in at least one Northern California community surged amid the lockdown in place to fight the epidemic, surpassing the number of deaths related to COVID-19.
Some of the victims forced to deal with increased loneliness have been younger people, the outlet cites doctors at the John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, east of San Francisco, as saying in May.
