John Geddert, the former U.S Olympics women's gymnastics head coach, killed himself on Thursday afternoon, hours after he was charged with 24 crimes, including sexual assault, human trafficking and racketeering, The Associated Press and ESPN reported on Friday. He was 63.
Geddert, who had ties with disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar, was supposed to appear in an Eaton County court but his body was found at a rest area along Interstate 96, according to state police.
"This is a tragic end to a tragic story for everyone involved," Yahoo Sports quoted Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel in confirming Geddert's death. An investigation was carried out Thursday evening, and no other details were being provided, authorities said.
Geddert was the former owner and coach at Twistars gymnastics club in Dimondale, Michigan, where hundreds of women and girls claim convicted sex offender Nassar sexually molested them under the guise of medical treatment.
Many of them said Geddert had knowledge of the abuse, as Nassar a former Michigan State University sports doctor who's now in prison for child pornography, often treated young athletes in a back room of the gym and lied to police about it during a 2016 investigation into the Team USA physician.
Nessel's spokesperson Kelly Rossman-McKinney said they had no indication that Geddert intended to flee or hurt himself or others.
Geddert rose to national prominence in the early 2000s and was picked to coach the U.S. national team for the 2012 London Olympics. His capacity as a national coach led him to travel around the world with the country's top female gymnasts.
Officials of the USA Gymnastics committee suspended Geddert during Nassar's sentencing hearing in January 2018 in the face of growing public complaints from former athletes about his abusive coaching style.
Sarah Klein, a gymnast who trained under Geddert for over a decade and was violated by Nassar, said the coach's suicide was an "escape from justice" and "traumatizing beyond words."
