Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the Washington escort service operator recently convicted to jail, has reportedly killed herself, police said Thursday.

Investigators said they found the body which they believe belonged to Palfrey in a shed near her mother's home in Tarpon Springs, a town located 20 miles northwest of Tampa. Police found the corpse on Thursday morning.

The woman nicknamed "D.C. Madam" has hanged reportedly herself. When her 76-year-old mother Blanche Palfrey entered the shed to check on her at about 11 a.m., she was hanging by a nylon rope, according to the statement released by Tarpon Springs police Capt. Jeffrey P. Young.

Palfrey’s mother called 911 and her daughter was soon pronounced dead.

"This is tragic news and my heart goes out to her mother," defense attorney Preston Burton said.

Young added that Palfrey left two suicide notes, but wouldn’t give details about their contents.

The 52-year-old "D.C. Madam" was waiting to be sentenced on June 25 on charges of federal racketeering. She had been convicted on April 15 of running a Washington area call-girl ring.
In court, Palfrey said she did not know that her female employees were performing sex acts with clients and were compensated for that.

The average price clients were paying was of 250 U.S. dollars for 90 minutes with a female escort. Palfrey’s escort ring had clients such as Senator David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, and Randall Tobias, a former deputy secretary of state.

Palfrey operated the prostitution ring for 13 years, prosecutors said.

Montgomery Blair Sibley, Palfrey’s former civil attorney, expressed her astonishment about what happened.

"I'm personally devastated by this. All I can do is mourn the tragic loss of her life," he said.

Palfrey once said that suicide is for cowards, but, in the end, she has chosen to leave this world like one.  

"She wasn't going to jail, she told me that very clearly. She told me she would commit suicide," author Dan Moldea said after learning about Palfrey’s death, TIME reported.