The Boeing whistleblower who died last week from an apparent suicide left his driver’s license in his hotel room and a possible suicide note in the passenger seat of his truck, the police report revealed. 

John Barnett, 62, was in Charleston, South Carolina, where he was finishing a deposition part of a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit against the jet company where he worked for 32 years as a quality-control manager. On the morning of March 9, he was set to appear for the last day of his deposition, where he was raising concerns for the quality of Boeing’s products; instead, Barnett was found dead with “self-inflicted wounds” in his truck outside of a Holiday Inn he had been staying at, according to a report from the Charleston Police Department. 

Police officers found Barnett “unresponsive” in his Dodge Ram pickup truck with a “gunshot wound near his right temple” and a silver pistol in his hand on his lap with his right finger still on the trigger. There was also a note in plain view in the passenger seat of the truck, according to the report. The contents of the note have not been revealed. 

Barnett’s lawyers said they called the hotel staff to check on their client after he did not show up to the deposition following multiple attempts to reach him by phone. Barnett had extended his stay at the Holiday Inn until March 8, though hotel staff told the New York Post he had eaten dinner at the hotel that evening.  

A hotel employee told investigators that they heard a “pop” around 9:30 a.m. while working on the outside of the hotel, but said they “did not think anything of it at the time,” the report noted.

The police report also found that Barnett’s driver’s license was still in his hotel room the morning he was found dead in his truck, and video surveillance showed him leaving the hotel the morning of March 8.

“We understand the global attention this case has garnered, and it is our priority to ensure that the investigation is not influenced by speculation but is led by facts and evidence,” the Charleston Police Department wrote in a statement.

Barnett’s attorneys were shocked to discover his death, saying that they didn’t notice any signs that he would have committed suicide and that they wanted more information about his death.

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Meanwhile, Barnett’s family was less surprised by his death, claiming that the former Boeing employee had mental health issues, including PTSD.   

“He was suffering from PTSD and anxiety attacks as a result of being subjected to the hostile work environment at Boeing,” they said, “which we believe led to his death.”