Evidence in Judge’s Plunge Reflects Suicide, Police Say

Detectives investigating the death of Superior Court Judge Douglas A. McKee, whose body was found at the bottom of steep cliffs in Rancho Palos Verdes, said Friday that all clues show the 56-year-old committed suicide.

“There is nothing to indicate any kind of foul play,” said Det. Mark Lillienfeld, an investigator with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Some people had speculated that the outgoing and athletic McKee might have been murdered because of a note scratched into the top of his car. However, Lillienfeld said the scratches were more than a year old and had nothing to do with the judge’s death.

Deputies also found McKee’s dentures, broken glasses and baseball cap next to his car, but only one set of footprints out to the ledge from where the judge fell, just beyond the San Vicente Park and Interpretive Center overlooking the ocean.

Autopsy results from the coroner’s department Friday showed that McKee’s injuries were consistent with a fall but no cause of death has been determined.

Investigators don’t know how long McKee’s body lay at the base of the rocky cliffs. He was found at 10:40 a.m. on Thursday. He was last seen by a family member Wednesday night, the Sheriff’s Department said.