They seemed so triumphant at the time, the lyrics to country music star Mindy McCready's hope-filled title track to her most recent album, "I'm Still Here." "On a cold dark cloud, with nowhere to fall but down, like a single, naked, unrelenting tear ... I'm still here." Now, those words sound like a cry for help. On Sunday afternoon, McCready, whose turbulent personal life overshadowed her music, was found dead on the front porch of her Arkansas home, the victim, authorities said, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. She was 37. McCready also appears to have shot and killed a dog that belonged to her late boyfriend, record producer David Wilson, before shooting herself, Cleburne County Sheriff Marty Moss said Monday.
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Sheriff says investigation into her apparent suicide, her boyfriend's death are ongoing
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Former singer apparently killed her late boyfriend's dog first
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She struggled for years with addiction and mental illness
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She burst onto the scene in 1996 with her album "Ten Thousand Angels"
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In 2011, she took the boy from her mother, who had legal custody, and fled with him to her home in @placeholder, saying she had concerns over his safety.