Cops: Teacher accused of affair tries to kill self

updated 10:26 a.m. ET March 21, 2007

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A teacher accused of having sex with a former student who was shot to death outside her home tried to commit suicide five days later with a drug overdose, Nashville police said.

Nashville’s 911 call center was contacted on March 15 by a Knoxville police officer, who said Erin McLean’s family there believed she had taken an overdose.

Paramedics and a Nashville officer went to the home where McLean was staying and reported that it appeared she had attempted to commit suicide with prescription drugs, police spokeswoman Kristin Mumford said.

Mumford said McLean was taken to a Nashville hospital and later released.

The teacher’s husband, Eric McLean, is charged with murder in the shooting death of 18-year-old Sean Powell outside the McLeans’ home March 10. Powell was a former student at West High School in Knoxville, where Erin McLean was a teaching intern.

Eric McLean’s relatives say Erin McLean was having a romantic relationship with the teenager.

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