John Taylor Skilling Dead: Jeff Skilling's Son's Body Found In Apartment

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A son of former Enron President Jeff Skilling has been found dead in his Southern California apartment.

Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna says 20-year-old John Taylor Skilling was found dead Tuesday after he failed to meet friends for a dinner and they called police.

Jeff Skilling's attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, confirmed to CNBC that the young man was his client's son. Petrocelli did not immediately return messages from The Associated Press.

Bertagna said Thursday that bottles of medication were found near Skilling, who had been distraught over a breakup with his girlfriend.

Authorities are awaiting a toxicology report to determine the cause of death. That could take four to six weeks.

Skilling was studying at Chapman University in Orange.

His father is serving a 24-year sentence in federal prison for fraud, insider trading and conspiracy.

Comments

[Just walkin the dog here]

12:09 PM on 02/07/2011

You have got to wonder if Skilling had not chosen a life of corruption and had been there for his son after his son's breakup. I know that I can be there for my kids. I may not be wealthy, but I am available for them anytime they need me. Sadly, there is a price for your decisions. Now consider how many other suicides there were from others who had direct fall-out from Skilling's actions.

[holyghostie]

11:39 PM on 02/05/2011

My heart goes out to the family, nobody should die because of a breakup.

[ricky ledo]

05:43 PM on 02/05/2011

Whoever says his dad truly does not care, well. I don't know what I really can say to that. JT was a good kid, and I can bet his whole family right now is in a tough situation.
RIP JT

[CarolinaYankee]

11:29 AM on 02/05/2011

Horrible, it is always terrible for a parent to lose a child, I speak from experience, you NEVER get over it and think about everyday... Sympathies to the family.

[annasophie1228]

12:05 AM on 02/05/2011

so young! if i could only count the number of times a breakup made me think that life wasn't worth living...i learned a valuable lesson: a temporary situation does not necessitate a permanent solution.

RIP young man...

[Arts4u]

09:33 PM on 02/04/2011

Do these guys really think that their morally bankrupt behavior does not affect their children in the end?

[Ami Munro]

10:40 AM on 02/05/2011

Exactly my thoughts!

[raker]

07:55 PM on 02/04/2011

Madoff's son, then the Shah's son, and now this one, all in a few months.

[builderman55]

12:44 PM on 02/07/2011

Gee, do we have a trend here? Maybe the fact that parents who become scoundrels and criminals has an effect on their children? Sorry, but I have a hard time feeling sorry for his father for his loss. How about all of the people that his behavior drove to despair by destroying their dreams through financial fraud? I wonder how many people were driven to suicide, how many families were fractured when their retirement plans were destroyed in Enron's collapse.

[Stella2]

07:33 PM on 02/04/2011

If young people would only realize that taking ones life is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. 20 is suppose to be the begining of life, not the end.

[2binformed]

07:21 PM on 02/04/2011

So very sad. The early 20's are such a dangerous time for suicide. Condolences to his family and friends.

[boyoboy]

06:43 PM on 02/04/2011

How tragic.  Condolences to the young Skilling's family and friends.

[WonderfulElena]

06:12 PM on 02/04/2011

his father had nothing to do with the enron fraud. as soon as he found out it was a scam he resigned. jeff skilling was a victim

[Nardwilly]

09:43 AM on 02/05/2011

spending 24 years in prison, convicted by a juror of his peers.

Thursday's decision does not necessarily mean that any of the 19 counts against Skilling or four counts against Black will be thrown out, Ginsburg said. At the same time, by a 6-3 vote, the court rejected Skilling's claim that he did not get a fair trial in Houston because of the harsh publicity surrounding the case in Enron's hometown.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37896688/ns/business-us_business/

[PaulD08]

03:39 PM on 02/16/2011

u gotta b kiddin,,

[pitlover60]

06:07 PM on 02/04/2011

the father had to know the son would pull something like this when he did his dirty dealings...its the fathers fault.....he probably sadly could care less though.

[wendy scott]

05:31 PM on 02/04/2011

Heartbreaking..I hope he is in peace.

[wernerholm]

05:18 PM on 02/04/2011

according to a dozen former traders for Enron and its rivals.

The blackouts left more than 100,000 businesses and residential customers in the dark for parts of two days, trapped people in elevators and shut down some offices of high-tech companies such as Cisco Systems and Apple Computer, as well as chipmaking plants, costing millions of dollars in lost revenue.

The traders said that Enron's former president, Jeff Skilling, pushed them to "trade aggressively" in California and to do whatever was necessary to take advantage of the state's wholesale market to boost the price of Enron's stock .

"Skilling would say, 'if you can't do that then you need to find a job at another company,'" said one former senior Enron trader, who requested anonymity because of concerns about potential investigations. "He said we should go trade pork bellies if we can't be aggressive"

- And California went dark and PEOPLE DIED as a result.

[Vr6]

04:59 PM on 02/04/2011

Yes but this:- http://www.alternet.org/news/149771/11_women_found_murdered_in_albuquerque_desert_--_why_was_this_not_treated_as_a_national_tragedy

- gets no attention! Where are the medias priorities I ask!

[WhereIsTheTruth]

02:00 PM on 02/05/2011

I can find news articles dating back two years to when it happened.

[urnumbersix]

03:38 PM on 02/05/2011

Wow. Too true.
Glad to learn that the community is fighting back.