STANDISH, MI – A police investigation has been unable to verify claims a northern Michigan teacher made in an email to colleagues confessing to sexual abuse of more than a dozen younger males before he killed himself.

He named his supposed victims.

“We’ve not had any confirmation of (sexual abuse) from any of the individuals on that list,” said Arenac County Undersheriff Don McIntyre on Wednesday, Jan. 16. “None of those persons on the list have actually confirmed anything (inappropriate) was going on. It’s still under investigation, but it’s definitely peculiar.”

Kevin Schutte, 24, sent the email to several of his colleagues within the Whittemore-Prescott Area Schools on Jan. 6. In it, he listed 15 boys he claimed to have assaulted over the years, over which he expressed remorse and stated his suicidal intent.

The email’s recipients contacted police, who at 8 p.m. responded to Schutte’s Turner Township home. They found him dead from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Autopsy results concluded Schutte died of suicide, McIntyre confirmed.

Investigators interviewed “a good number” of the people Schutte listed, but none said Schutte had improper contact with them, McIntyre said. None of those named in the email were students of Whittemore-Prescott Area Schools, police and school officials previously said.

“No one has come forward additionally,” the undersheriff added. “No students from Whittemore-Prescott and no members of the public have come forward in any way. There have been no verified allegations at this point and things have been unsubstantiated.”

Schutte was hired in August to serve as the district’s music teacher and band/choir director. He graduated from Central Michigan University in May, according to his obituary.

Superintendent Joseph Perrera previously told MLive-The Bay City Times he had received no complaints from students, parents, or staff regarding Schutte, adding he was friendly and got along with everyone.