Former West Columbia Police Chief and Accused Child Molester Michael Palmer Found Dead Days Before Trial

Michael Palmer Booking Photo

West Columbia, Texas

We have a follow-up on a story from 2013, involving former West Columbia Police Chief Michael Palmer. Back then, he was accused of tampering with evidence, possession of a controlled substance, stealing drugs during drug investigations, as well as taking medications from dead hospice patients.

He disappeared and then reappeared about a month later. Once back, he was facing new charges, after investigators discovered evidence that he had bound, gagged and sexually assaulted an underage boy, repeatedly, beginning in 1998. Investigators even found bondage gear in Palmer’s office at the police Department.

Palmer was scheduled to go on trial for aggravated sex assault of a child on Monday, but was found dead in his backyard last Thursday.

Palmer’s cause of death, according to West Columbia police, has not been released.

In addition to the aggravated sexual assault of a child charge, Palmer also faced eight counts of tampering with evidence.

Palmer lost his job in February 2013 before the child sex charges were filed when fellow officers complained he was stealing pain killers taken as evidence in police investigations.