They seemed so triumphant at the time, the lyrics to country music star Mindy McCready's hope-filled title track to her most recent album, "I'm Still Here." "On a cold dark cloud, with nowhere to fall but down, like a single, naked, unrelenting tear ... I'm still here." Now, those words sound like a cry for help. On Sunday afternoon, McCready, whose turbulent personal life overshadowed her music, was found dead on the front porch of her Arkansas home, the victim, authorities said, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. She was 37. McCready also appears to have shot and killed a dog that belonged to her late boyfriend, record producer David Wilson, before shooting herself, Cleburne County Sheriff Marty Moss said Monday.
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Sheriff says investigation into her apparent suicide, her boyfriend's death are ongoing
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Former singer apparently killed her late boyfriend's dog first
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She struggled for years with addiction and mental illness
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She burst onto the scene in 1996 with her album "Ten Thousand Angels"
In 2011, she took the boy from her mother, who had legal custody, and fled with him to her home in @placeholder, saying she had concerns over his safety.