The former wife of an Idaho Republican state lawmaker who shot and killed himself this week says he was under investigation for molesting two girls, including a young female relative who was abused for more than 10 years, the AP reports. Brandon Hixon, 36, was found dead in his home in southwestern Idaho on Tuesday from a single gunshot wound, the Canyon County Coroner's office said.

Former colleagues at the Idaho Statehouse have offered kind words about Hixon, but his ex-wife Danielle Eirvin Hixon said the suicide robbed her family's hopes of finding justice and closure though the legal system. She told The AP in an interview Wednesday that she told police about the abuse and that her husband raped and inappropriately touched one of the alleged female victims for about 11 years. She said she and two other people had been scheduled to testify before a grand jury on Wednesday. You can read the full story here at spokesman.com from AP reporter Kimberlee Kruesi.