According to Monroe County Coroner Alan Gurley, an autopsy confirmed that Stephen Lynn Cronk’s death was due to complications from a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
Cronk, 58, of Gallatin, Tenn., was found dead Friday morning in Hamilton after investigators spent several days searching for him regarding a kidnapping investigation.
Investigators believe Cronk kidnapped a woman in Tennessee and brought her to Monroe County.
According to Aberdeen Police Chief Henry Randle, Cronk brought an 18-year-old woman from Mount Julie, Tenn., to a local motel in Aberdeen. Randle said the woman told investigators that Cronk tried to have sex with her inside a motel room some time Wednesday night, but she was able to get his handgun and shoot him. Cronk left the scene, Randle said, and the woman called Aberdeen police to meet her at the motel room.
Cronk was found in his Nissan Frontier around 5:45 a.m. near the Crossroad’s Shell gas station. Gurley stated in a press release that he was parked at the location since Thursday morning and apparently died “sometime early Friday morning.”
“It is believed he would have survived the injury if he had sought medical treatment,” Gurley stated in a press release.
The woman has not been charged in the incident, Randle said.
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