Country star dead, apparent suicide

HEBER SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) -- Perhaps there was one heartbreak too many for Mindy McCready.

The former country star appears to have taken her own life Sunday afternoon in Heber Springs, Ark. Authorities say McCready died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot to the head and an autopsy is planned. She was 37, the mother of two young sons.

If confirmed, it was at least her fourth suicide attempt since 2005, ending a series of tumultuous public events that marked much of the singer's adult life.

Her death comes a month after that of David Wilson, her boyfriend and the father of her youngest son. He's believed to have shot himself on the same porch of the home they shared about 65 miles north of Little Rock, Ark., and his death also was investigated as a suicide.