Man facing rape charges dead in apparent suicide

A man facing charges of rape and attempted murder was found dead of an apparent suicide Tuesday in the parking lot of Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin, police said.

Michael Giffin, 27, most recently of Meadowlark Court in St. Charles, failed to show up for a status hearing at 9:30 a.m. in Cook County, a circuit court spokeswoman said.

A passer-by called 911 at 9:59 a.m. after seeing Giffin slumped in the front seat of a car in the back area of the hospital's parking lot, Elgin Police Cmdr. Glenn Theriault said. A gun was found in the car, he said.

An autopsy is pending from the Kane County coroner's office. "I don't anticipate he was there for long," Theriault said.

Giffin, a former University of Illinois at Chicago soccer player, was charged with raping a woman in her Chicago apartment after meeting her at a bar in January 2012, according to the Chicago Tribune. He lived in Chicago at the time.

He faced charges including attempted murder, 20 counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated battery by strangling, the Cook County spokeswoman said.