Joshua Goen, the Seagraves school superintendent accused of planting a device in a locker room to record a girls basketball team, was found dead Friday morning from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound at a residence in Shallowater days after he was released from jail.
Lubbock County Sheriff’s deputies responded about 10:15 a.m. to a call about a dead body in the 8600 block of N. FM 237 in Shallowater and found Goen, 43, dead from a single gunshot wound, according to a sheriff’s office news release.
A family member found Goen’s body and called the police, sheriff’s officials said adding that the investigation into Goen’s death is ongoing.
The A-J does not typically report on suicides, however, an exception was made in Goen’s case since he was involved in a high-profile arrest.
Goen was arrested Monday in connection with a Gaines County Sherriff and FBI investigation that began Nov. 16, when a digital recoding device was found in the visiting girls locker room at Seagraves High School.
A review of the school’s security cameras showed Goen entering the visiting girl’s locker room before the Hale Center girls basketball team entered the changing room, according to a warrant issued Monday for Goen’s arrest.
Investigators searched the recording device and found three videos from that day, the warrant states. One of the videos showed an empty locker room. A second video shows the Hale Center basketball players entering the locker room. A third video appeared to be interrupted when the device was unplugged.
Investigators did find another video in the device’s SD card that showed a man identified as Goen by an FBI special agent, the warrant states.
Seagraves Independent School District confirmed Goen was on administrative leave after law enforcement officials notified the school about a federal investigation into him on Nov. 22. High school principal Daylan Sellers is acting as the interim superintendent.
Goen was booked in on a charge of invasive visual recording, a state jail felony that carries six months to two years in a state jail. His bond was set at $75,000 and jail officials confirmed Wednesday morning he was no longer in custody.