Daniel Lee Martin, a country singer, who was being investigated for child sex abuse, has died from what police believe was a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Florida’s Pasco Sheriff’s Office. Martin died at the age of 54, according to TMZ.
Police arrested Martin of New Port Richey on Tuesday, January 28, after a child alleged that he exposed himself while they were sitting together on a couch, Tampa Bay Times reported.
According to law enforcement sources, the alleged child victim said Martin touched himself inappropriately after exposing himself and shared pornographic images.
Police confirmed that the alleged child sex abuse victim had spent the night at Martin’s house on multiple occasions.
Martin was then arrested on charges of “lewd and lascivious exhibition,” but was released on $15,000 bail, according to Tampa Bay Times.
TMZ reports that police officers went to Martin’s house on Friday to serve a warrant for “3-counts of sexual exploitation of a minor… aggravated sexual battery and solicitation of a minor to commit rape.”
When the officers entered the house they found Martin dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Martin had been indicted in the past on child sex abuse offenses
That was not the first time that Martin had been charged with child sex abuse offenses.
In 2018, he was indicted by a grand jury in Williamson County on charges of sexual exploitation of a minor, aggravated sexual battery, soliciting the sexual exploitation of a child to commit rape of a child, and indecent exposure, according to the Tennessean.
Deputies have been trying to contact Martin about warrants related to the 2018 indictment but had not been successful.
Who was Daniel Lee Martin?
Martin was reportedly a former advertising professional, professional golfer, and baseball player. He left sports in 1997 to pursue his dream of becoming a country music artist.
He worked with well-known country musicians, such as Vince Gill, Willie Nelson, and Charlie Daniels.
He performed annually at the Fan Fair in Nashville and received offers from multiple top recording labels, including Atlantic Records. But the offers did not pan out for undisclosed reasons, according to his bio on AllMusic.com.
He finally signed with ChinMusic Records and released his debut album, All That I Am under the label.
Martin released two albums during his music career, All That I Am (2003) and On My Way to You (2007).
He appeared on TV shows such as The Sportsman Channel’s Brotherhood Outdoors. He co-hosted Til Death Do Us Part on Carbon TV with his wife, Julie McQueen, in 2016.
He filed for divorce from McQueen in 2018.