Suicide Note

Ignoring three witnesses, a 32-year-old man scaled a fence along the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro, flung off his motorcycle helmet and leaped 250 feet to his death Monday morning, police said. The man, whose name was being held pending family notification, landed on a shipping terminal dock at the Port of Los Angeles shortly after 11 a.m., Police Lt. Jim McNair said. Police said he was carrying cigarettes, a checkbook and a driver's license with a West Hollywood address.

An autopsy has confirmed that Hillsborough County's top prosecutor killed himself after an investigation into his finances was launched, officials said Friday. The medical examiner's office believes state Atty. Harry Lee Coe shot himself Wednesday night as he sat against a support column underneath an expressway. His body was found Thursday by the television reporter who broke the stories about Coe's seeking $12,000 in loans from employees. Coe said he considered the employees longtime friends and said he'd done nothing wrong, but Gov. Jeb Bush launched an investigation.

A teen-age boy was found hanging from a tree in the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area on Friday morning in an apparent suicide, Los Angeles police said. The body of Todd Holcomb, 15, of Van Nuys was discovered by a jogger about 7 a.m., Detective Stephen Fisk said. He said a suicide note was found with the body, but did not disclose details.

The families of four teen-agers who committed suicided by breathing car exhaust fumes earlier this week have decided not to honor their last request for a joint wake and burial, funeral directors said today. The two young men and two sisters who killed themselves Wednesday will be buried in three separate funerals beginning Saturday and probably concluding on Monday, officials said.

A 13-year-old boy authorities described as despondent and possibly armed has killed himself, Kern County sheriff's officials said Tuesday. Nigel Hardy was found dead about 8:15 p.m. Monday at Crazy Otto's restaurant in Rosamond, about 19 miles away from his home in Palmdale, where his family reported him missing earlier in the day. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said Nigel had recently been suspended from school and was despondent....

A 43-year-old Los Angeles woman killed herself Monday by driving her car at a high speed into the back of a parked dump truck on Lynn Road in Thousand Oaks, authorities said. "It was fast enough to demolish the car," said Ventura County Sheriff's Sgt. Keith Parks. "She died instantly." The woman's name was being withheld Monday night pending notification of relatives, Parks said. Investigators determined that she intended to die in the 6 p.m.

A 52-year-old motorist who was killed in a Metrolink crash earlier this week drove his vehicle into the train's path because he wanted to commit suicide, the Los Angeles County coroner ruled Wednesday. The driver died Monday morning after he was thrown from his SUV from the impact of the crash. A will and a suicide note addressed to his mother were found in his home, said Capt. David Campbell, a spokesman for the coroner's office.

A teenage student pilot who committed suicide by crashing into a Tampa skyscraper had nearly hit the control tower at an Air Force base that houses a nerve center for the Afghan war, a government report says. Charles Bishop, 15, flew his stolen Cessna "just a few feet" over the control tower at MacDill Air Force Base during the Jan. 5 flight, the National Transportation Safety Board report says.