Nate Burrell 60 Days In suicide: A&E reality actor who participated in series of being willfully locked in jail kills self – had posted Facebook post alluding to turmoil and impending split with wife Jordan.
Nate Burrell, star of the A&E docuseries 60 Days In, a reality show about free men willfully electing to be locked up in jail — has killed himself in a self-inflicted gunshot wound according to a report.
Burrell’s sister, Chelsey Walker, told TMZ that the 33-year-old committed suicide on Saturday night, fatally shooting himself out in public in downtown Allegan, Michigan.
The reality actor & former Marine’s suicide follows Burrell hours prior posting a 3000-word post to Facebook writing that he ‘can’t keep going on’.
‘This isn’t an admission of guilt. I’m just tired, I’ve been through so much in my life, the pain of my situation now hurts more than I ever imagined. I can’t keep going on,’ the post read in part.
‘I want to apologize to my family and friends for failing you. I know alot of you will think you could have changed my mind I ensure you, you wouldn’t. This isn’t a spontaneous thing.’
‘You win! You have promised for weeks, you will ruin my life and I had no idea who I was messing with.’
The reality TV star, who had just turned 33, had been expecting a child with his wife, who he had recently split from, Walker said.
‘I can only imagine how bad this would all turn out, all of the legal crap that would ensue after this with custody and everything else,’ Burrell’s post continued. ‘You win! You have promised for weeks, you will ruin my life and I had no idea who I was messing with. You are right, I didn’t know who I was messing with.’
His post continued: ‘For those who are mourning know I’m in such a better place. I’m no longer fighting the battles that have been causing so much pain in my mind and life. Waking up feeling worthless, lost, confused, and tired/exhausted. I know you all have told me that’s not who I am and I’m talented and have a good head on my shoulders, I appreciate you, but it doesn’t help how I feel.’
He goes on to reference a number of family members and friends, before urging America to ‘revamp” the ‘behavioral health side.’
‘I felt like a criminal going to jail’
‘Our military and their families need it… Our military and their families need it. I checked myself into the hospital for wanting to commit suicide and from the beginning I felt like a criminal going to jail. Stripped of my dignity and identity and personal property.
‘I needed my family and friends during this time and you took that away. Not being able to communicate put me in such a darker hole than I was in originally that was so hard on me mentally. I would have told you anything to get me out of that place even if it meant I was okay when I wasn’t. You didn’t help me you held me prisoner so I couldn’t hurt myself?’
He concluded the post with a bible verse and the quote, ‘Let our lives not be defined by our mistakes but instead our hearts.’
Injustice to self
Nate was a well-known reality personality of 60 Days in, with the shows premise centered on uncovering the injustices done to inmates behind bars.
The show followed Nate and eight others who entered jail for 2 months under assumed identities which they did of their own free will. He stared in seasons three and four of the series and was incarcerated at the Fulton County Jail.
According to his sister, Chelsey Walker, Nate was proud of his participation in the show.
‘Nathan loved his country, loved his family and was a very caring guy. He was just in a bad place. He was very proud of being on “60 Days In,” and he really cherished his time on that show,’ Walker said.
Burrell was a veteran, having served in the military as a Marine from 2006 to 2010. He was in the infantry and served two tours of Iraq.
Nate continued to serve for three years in the reserves, and he was honorably discharged in 2013 and went on to receive his associate degree in criminal justice and law enforcement in 2014 in order to become a fish and wildlife officer in Michigan.
A victim of self imposed duress and veteran fatigue?
Nate decided to remain in custody for an additional 60 days when Colonel Adger offered him the opportunity to do so.
‘Nate was disappointed that, while he was stationed in Iraq on one of his two combat tours, his older brother had been arrested and was facing prison time again,’ his A&E biography reads.
‘He believes that the Criminal Justice System should be much tougher on criminals in order to dissuade them from returning, and he argues prisons should be more militaristic and less flexible when it comes to inmate liberties.’
Burrell had been working as a Fish and Wildlife Officer in Michigan at the time of his death.
