Married 25-year veteran's colleagues also saw his name on anti-

A police officer who shot himself after being linked to Ashley Madison was not a user of it and was the victim of a smear published on a cop-hating blog, Daily Mail Online can reveal.

Captain Michael Gorhum's official San Antonio police email address was published in a purported list of Ashley Madison users on a website called Cop Block, which carries material highly critical of police.

On the day he learned that he was on the published list, and as colleagues also learned about his presence on the Cop Block site, he took his own life, shooting himself in the parking lot of the church where he worshiped with his wife and two children.

An investigation is underway to establish how the internet 'shaming' may have contributed to his death. His widow said he had been under unrelated 'stress' at work for some time beforehand.

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Smeared? Captain Michael Gorhum, pictured with a lower-ranking colleague, took his life after he and his colleagues saw his email address published as a purported user of Ashley Madison.

Evidence: This was the address - which is the correct one for the office - which was published on August 20 by Cop Block. Hours later, the officer took his own life

Mourning: Capt Michael Gorhum's widow Darlene, an elementary school principal who was his high school sweetheart, leavers St John's Lutheran Church in San Antonio today at the end of his funeral service

However Daily Mail Online can disclose that his email address is not in the leaked database of Ashley Madison which helps arrange extra marital affairs.

In fact it was only published on August 20 on one obscure chat forum before being repeated later that day by Cop Block, a website which purports to highlight police 'abuse and corruption', and which is run by an anarchist who calls himself 'Ademo Freeman'.

His real name is Adam Mueller and the 33-year-old lives in Mayville, Wisconsin.

He refused to disclose how he had obtained the purported list of official .gov email addresses, but it does not correspond to others published elsewhere, or to the full leak of the Ashley Madison data, which has been seen by Daily Mail Online.

It also contains some obvious errors, including foxmulder@fbi.gov - a reference to the X Files, potus@us.gov, orackbobama@whitehouse.gov, hildabeast@whitehouse.gov and yoda@irs.gov.

The spoof emails raises serious questions over whether Capt. Gorhum may have been framed or even the victim of a joke that went wrong.

What is clear, however, is that when Capt. Gorhum's name was published, he was devastated and his colleagues quickly became aware of his presence on it.

Colleagues said the officer learned of his email inclusion from Cop Block and the word spread among San Antonio officers, although most doubted he would have enrolled for its services.

One officer said: 'I have been told by several other officers who have heard the same and checked it on that blog.

'Everybody was shocked and reacted the same with "No. Not Mike…never."

'But when I logged on it only took me a few seconds to find his email. I hadn't seen it anywhere else.

Anarchist: This is Adam Mueller, who calls himself Ademo Freeman, and is the founder of police-hating website Cop Block. He said he was exercising his first amendment rights by publishing Capt Gorhum's address along with thousands of others, some obviously absurd

Website: This is his Cop Blocker presented the Ashley Madison list, leaving no room for doubt in the minds of people who saw it that they believed them to be true. But Capt Gorhum's address is not in other published lists of .gov addresses in the Ashley Madison database and his name is not in records search by Daily Mail Online

'And whoever was responsible for publishing his email address attached to being a cheater, and brought ridicule on him, has his blood on their hands.'

His widow issued a brief statement, telling the San Antonio Express News her husband 'experiencing stress entirely related to issues at work that had no connection to the data leak'.

She added that he 'never had a paid account with Ashley Madison' and said: 'He knew I would support him. I do, and I continue to do so.'

Friends also said he may have been suffering from depression and had concealed it from his associates and colleagues before the internet shame pushed him over the edge.

San Antonio police confirmed it would 'gladly' support an investigation into whether the publication of an email address which leads to a person taking his own life might be a criminal act.

The man who runs the Cop Block site - a 33-year-old self-proclaimed 'keyboard warrior' refused to take any blame for the death.

Mueller is an anarchist who has been photographed with 'F*** the police' signs, and who set up the Cop Block website to 'highlight abuse'.

He calls himself a 'victim of the war on drugs' as he has two convictions for drug possession.

The anarchist, originally from Wisconsin, where he had a real estate license, and now living in Cleveland, Ohio, regularly updates both Cop Block and Facebook with anti-police tirades and posts news reports of police shootings and alleged excessive force.

In one message over a photograph of a wrecked police car, he has the message: 'The news calls it an accident. I call it karma.'

His urges people to film the police at work to expose wrongdoing, and also to expose their misuse of public funds. This was his justification for publishing the purported Ashley Madison list in full.

However he denied any responsibility for Capt Gorhum's death.

He said: 'We didn't publish the details, someone else hacked the AM site and posted that on line.

'We don't have crystal balls and to predict an outcome is impossible. I, as the founder and one of the editors of CopBlock.org, feel publishing public information which is what those emails are is in line with the ethics of journalism.

'As well as, the First Amendment of the United States constitution, if that still means anything.'

Asked what the purpose of publishing the emails was, he said: 'The purpose is to show not only what police do on taxpayer dimes but also that they aren't a supreme human being to the rest of us.'

An article which accompanied the list the list was written by Steven Thomas who, after learning of the officer's suicide, further wrote on Cop Block: 'After being outed, Cpt. Gorhum committed suicide at his home.

'At one point, there were so many city employees accessing the Ashley Madison website that the city banned access to the website from their computers.

'I do not revel in the loss of his life, as his decision to allegedly cheat on his spouse was his decision, and for what it's worth, I send my condolences to his surviving family members.

Remembered: Capt Gorhum's coffin leaves church today with an honor guard of San Antonio officers

Face of police hatred: Convicted drugs criminal Adam Mueller (left) calls himself Ademo Freeman and runs Cop Block. He has proudly posted pictures of himself brandishing abusive messages towards police (right)

Original source? The list published on Cop Block appears in only one other place - a list published on the same date as the Cop Block material on a chat forum called Tribal Wars which has its origin in online multiplayer computer games

Obviously fake: Among the names on the list published by Cop Block were clearly absurd entries such as a reference to the X-Files (left) and to Star Wars (right)

'However, I do take issue with his alleged action while on the taxpayer's dime. That email was bought and paid for by taxpayers.

'Chances are, he accessed the website using his work computer, city internet, or while on the clock; it's highly doubtful that he surfed the site in the comfort of his own home, in his wife's presence.'

In fact said friends, it would have been completely out of character for the officer to cheat.

It would also have been extremely unlikely that he would have abused his official email address, as he had held senior roles in San Antonio PD including at the head of the internal affairs and intelligence departments - which would have made him well aware of the risks attached to using the address.

His police colleagues have told Daily Mail Online that it is possible that his business email was posted to shame or embarrass him.

'He was high up on internal affairs and somebody could have had an agenda against him. He wasn't the type of guy to play about with women,' said one police colleague.

Capt Gorhum's funeral was held today with full police honors. His widow Darlene, who had been his high-school sweetheart, was among the 1,000 mourners.

Friends told Daily Mail Online it was inconceivable that the 25-year police veteran, who was 47, would have cheated on his wife of 23 years.

One of Capt. Gorhum's close friends Joe Calvey, 59, who had attended martial arts classes with him for the last 12 years, said: 'Talking about his family was natural.

'He was very proud of his two children and talked about their successes in school tests and was also very proud of his wife too.

Support: A San Antonio police officer gives emotional support to a mourner at Capt Michael Gorhum's funeral

Embrace: An officer exchanges hugs outside the funeral today in San Antonio for Capt Michael Gorhum

'I know that he was offered jobs with police forces elsewhere, but he turned them down because he didn't want to uproot his family.

'Mike could have been a chief of police in other forces, but he always put his family first. His wife is a principal and his children were at school or college and he would attend their functions.

'He was without a doubt a very courteous man with a great sense of humor. He always had a joke to tell.

'He was a very loyal person and looked to help other people. He made it to the rank of captain in the seventh largest city in the country. He was a very smart man.'

Calvey said he simply did not believe that the officer was on the site, even on common sense grounds.

'As a professional who ran the San Antonio vice department, he knew where all those kind of traps were with such a thing as Ashley Madison,' he said.

'He was a smart detective…you just don't use your work email for these type of things.

'He ran internal affairs...so lets say he didn't go on Ashley Madison and somebody maliciously used his email address? You don't make friends when you are in charge of internal affairs.

'He was as straight laced as one could be. He did everything by the book.'

Off duty: Michael Gorhum was a tae kwon do student who recently achieved his fifth degree black belt. His instructor said they called him

Tributes: Friends of the dead officer including businessman Joe Calvey (left) and his martial arts instructor In Mook Kim (right) said they did not believe he would have cheated and that he would have been well aware of the dangers of using an official address

Calvey added: 'I don't think his life should be defined by this. When I was with Mike and his wife recently, they seemed as happy as any couple could be. She was proud of him too.

'I think he had to have had depression which nobody could see.'

His tae kwon do instructor, Grandmaster In Mook Kim,81, said: 'He was a fifth degree black belt and a fine man who I had known for 25 years.

'He would always come to classes at midday so that he could spend his evenings with his family and I used to jokingly call him "Noon Class Man". We will miss him a lot.'

The officer's funeral took place today at the St John's Lutheran Church in San Antonio, attended by his Darlene, son Zachary and daughter Abigail.

His father Robert, who is a retired police officer and his mother, also Darlene, were joined by his mother-in-law Claudine Michalek and his siblings John, Robert, Anissa and Carin in leading the mourning.

The pall bearers included John and Robert and his brother-in-law Glenn Michalek. His widow, children, nieces, nephews and other family members followed alongside senior police officers and service men.

Around a thousand mourners were joined by police colleagues and motor cycle outriders accompanied the hearse to the Resurrection Cemetery where the senior policeman was cremated. Cycle police also lined to salute their friend and colleague.

Liar and cheat: Josh Taekman was proven to be on the website even though he claimed he was not. He used his credit card 62 times and sent 33 private pictures on the site - despite first lying to Daily Mail Online about it

Questions: A profile for Robert 'Hunter' Biden exists in the leaked data with an email address which is still active. He claims it was not set up by him. But the vice-president's son, himself a Supreme Court lawyer has refused to answer questions about how a credit card registered to his name and address was used on the site

The service was led by Reverend Erin Weaver and Reverend Judith Miller and the hymns were 'When Peace Like a River, 'Lamb of God' and 'My Hope is Built on Nothing Less.'

The eulogy was delivered by police colleagues Capt Gary Smith and Sergeant Ken Davis from San Antionio Police Department.

Outside officers hugged and consoled each other as 'Amazing Grace' was played by a piper and the church bells rang while the casket was carried to the hearse.

The impact of the Ashley Madison leak has spread since it happened earlier this month.

Hackers made all 35 million user records available. Some appear to involve public figures, while others appeared to be related to official email addresses.

Daily Mail Online revealed that Josh Taekman, the husband of Real Housewives of New York star Kristen Taekman, was a prolific user of the adultery site.

Taekman lied about his use of it when it was first exposed, claiming he was the victim of 'fraudulent' activity, even though his credit card had been used 62 times. He then admitted to being a member.

And Robert 'Hunter' Biden, the son of the Vice-President, has denied he had a profile when it was revealed there was one in his name, using his email address.

But he has refused to answer questions over how a credit card registered in his name at his Washington address was used on the site - a piece of information not disclosed when he made his initial denial.