Scott Rogers: Baton Rouge TV host was due to face a grand trial before he was allegedly shot by son-in-law and lover
Police found a note in Mr Rogers' home reading: "I can't live without my kids."
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Your support makes all the difference.A British man, who found fame as a TV presenter in the US, was allegedly shot dead by his son-in-law and former lover at his Louisiana home on the day he was due to appear before a grand jury.
52-year-old Scott Rogers, a former dance school teacher in Suffolk, was found dead in Iberville, Baton Rouge, on 27 August.
Police said Mr Rogers had gained a celebrity status in the area, owing to his talk show About Town.
Mathew Hodgkinson, 36, shot his father-in-law before turning the gun on himself in a failed suicide attempt, according to police.
Mr Hodgkinson was in a critical condition in hospital, and was being kept in a medically induced coma.
Iberville Parish sheriff Brett Stassi said that police had recently become aware that Mr Rogers had been cleared of child molestation offences involving a boy in Britain.
And two weeks before the shooting, US authorities removed Rogers’ adopted child and a foster child from his family home in Iberville.
On Friday, sources told Chief Investigator Chris Nakamoto a note was found on a nightstand next to the bed where Rogers was killed reading: “I can't live without my kids," while another read: "They broke our happy, loving home. They do not get to take Scott as well." The author of the notes has not yet been verified.
The presenter is believed to have used “false” information in US adoption papers by not declaring the fact he had been arrested, according to Mr Stassi.
But Mr Rogers’ lawyer said he assumed his client was confused about the forms and incorrectly answered he had never been arrested since he had been exonerated of the charges in Europe, WBRZ News reported.
Mr Hodgkinson was married to Mr Rogers' biological daughter, Kimmy, but lived in Rogers' home.
Before moving to the US, Rogers had founded a performing arts school in Suffolk – which had been likened to a cult. Mr Stassi said investigators had learned Mr Hodgkinson was a former pupil of his, and that Mr Hodgkinson married Mr Rogers' biological daughter in order to stay in the US.
Mr Rogers' lawyer said both his daughter and Mr Hodgkinson testified at the grand jury hearing Wednesday, and detectives believe Mr Hodgkinson left the hearing, went to Rogers' home and shot him.
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