Meteorologist Tom Johnston committed suicide rather than face a rape trial

A meteorologist in Maine who committed suicide last month was named Thursday as lone suspect  in a sexual assault investigation and would be charged if he were still alive, authorities announced.
TV weatherman Johnston, 46, was implicated in a recent sexual assault case and would have been charged by police had the WCSH meteorologist survived instead of apparently committing suicide, the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday.
Tom Johnston, who had been a meteorologist for WCSH since 2014, would face a felony charge of gross sexual assault in connection to a sexual assault that police say occurred on April 1 at a home in Newry and was reported the following morning from a hospital in Bridgeton, the Morning Sentinel reported.
Oxford County Sheriff Wayne Gallant told reporters Thursday, that Johnston, 46, was the only suspect in the assault and was identified by both a witness and the alleged victim, the newspaper reports.

Johnston, whose nickname was “TJ Thunder,” was reported missing April 3 by his girlfriend after he didn’t return home following an event at the Sunday River Ski Resort. Police found his body three days later in a wooded area in Auburn. The state medical examiner determined Johnston died of hypothermia from environmental exposure after cutting himself on both arms and losing consciousness.