Originally appeared on E! Online
Content warning: This story discusses suicide.
A former Fox News staffer was found dead in her Florida home.
Journalist Jennifer Eckhart‘s body was discovered inside the residence on Sept. 19, according to a Martin County Sheriff’s Office incident report obtained by People. She was 36.
Sheriff spokesperson Christine Christofek, told the outlet in a Sept. 21 statement, “This death has been ruled a suicide.”
Eckhart had been detained six times in the past 18 months under Florida’s Baker Act, which allows individuals experiencing a severe mental health crisis to be held for 72 hours, Sheriff John Budensiek shared in a Sept. 21 press conference.
“She spent a seven-week period in a mental health facility trying to get help for all her suicidal ideology,” he said, “and had been out of that facility for one week.”
Budensiek said their investigation discovered that Eckhart had stopped taking her medication and had written in her personal ledger, “I need to kill myself. It’s the last thing to do.”
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E! News has reached out to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office for comment but has not yet heard back.
Eckhart worked at Fox News’ sister network Fox Business for seven years, ultimately becoming an associate producer. She left the network in 2020, the same year she filed a lawsuit against America’s Newsroomco-anchor Ed Henry alleging he had “violently raped” her and left her “injured, bruised and battered with bloody wrists.”
In the lawsuit, Eckhart also alleged that Henry “took photos” of her “for purposes of blackmail that could destroy her career” and “threatened punishment and retaliation if [Eckhart] didn’t comply with his sexual demands,” according to the filing obtained by People.
Weeks before Eckhart’s July 2020 filing, Fox News launched a third-party investigation based on an unnamed employee’s complaint involving “willful sexual misconduct in the workplace years ago,” according to an internal company email obtained by CNN, with the network adding, “Based on investigative findings, Ed has been terminated.”
Henry denied the misconduct referenced in the email, with his attorney Catherine Foti telling CNN at the time that the on-air personality was “confident that he will be vindicated after a full hearing in an appropriate forum.”
Eckhart’s filing against Henry was ultimately settled last year one day before the case was set to head to trial.
“This has been an exhaustive, retraumatizing, five-year legal battle with incredible challenges that at times I almost felt was unable to bear,” Eckhart told People in June 2025. “With this settlement in place, a weight has now been lifted from my shoulders and my passion to support fellow trauma survivors has been renewed.”
Following the settlement, Henry’s attorney Gary Rosen told People in a statement, “This matter has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties, and the parties are moving on with their lives.”
Since leaving Fox News, Eckhart launched her Reinvented podcast—which aired its last episode in March—and launched The Reinvented Project, a nonprofit made to support survivors of trauma.
If you or someone you know needs help, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/re
