Cops: No Sign Fracking Tycoon Killed Himself

The timing of energy tycoon Aubrey McClendon's death raised suspicions, but police say they've found no connection between the fiery car crash he died in and the fact that the former Chesapeake Energy CEO had been indicted just a day earlier for alleged bid-rigging, reports the Wall Street Journal. McClendon, part owner of the Oklahoma City Thunder, was speeding and not wearing a seatbelt when he slammed into a bridge in Oklahoma City on March 2. The 56-year-old fracking pioneer, who had a wife and three children, faced up to 10 years in federal prison and a $1 million fine if found guilty of conspiring to rig bids for oil and gas leases in Oklahoma.

A police spokesman tells the Oklahoman that in the course of a two-month investigation, officers spoke to many people who knew McClendon, looked into every possibility, and determined there was no evidence of suicide. "We may never know with 100% certainty, but at the conclusion of our investigation, we had no evidence to believe there were other factors or possibilities," he says. A spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office says a separate investigation is continuing—and since there's a backlog of cases, it could be a long time before that investigation concludes. (More fracking stories.)