Police say steroid dealer killed himself

Authorities said Friday that a convicted steroids dealer who claimed to have sold drugs to pro football players killed himself, and the mother of a woman found dead in his home said she believes he killed her, too.

The Dallas County medical examiner ruled 35-year-old David Jacobs' shooting death a suicide, but police in the Dallas suburb of Plano aren't saying whether he shot his on-again, off-again girlfriend.

Both bodies were found in the master bedroom of Jacobs' Plano home. He was shot in the abdomen and head, and 30-year-old Amanda Earhart-Savell was shot several times. A .40-caliber Glock was found next to Jacobs, police said.

Earhart-Savell's mother said her daughter feared Jacobs.

"It was a murder-suicide, that's what," said Kathy Earhart, who also lives in Plano. "He was a dangerous man and she feared him. And he did what she thought he would do if he got to the point he was, which was distraught. He had no means of income, no nothing, so ..."

Police said until they receive the medical examiner's final report they can't explain how Jacobs killed himself.

"I don't know if he shot himself in the abdomen first and it was superficial. We just know that those were the two places he was shot," said Plano police spokesman Andrae Smith.

Jacobs was sentenced to three years probation and fined $25,000 on May 1 after pleading guilty last year in federal court in Dallas to conspiring to possess with intent to distribute anabolic steroids. He met twice with NFL security officials and gave them names of players he said bought steroids from him.

Jacobs' father, David Arthur Jacobs, has told The Dallas Morning News that he feared someone would hurt his son because of his steroid dealings. He didn't think his son was suicidal, and he stood by that when contacted by The Associated Press on Friday.

"I don't believe it, but it's neither here nor there. That's just my personal opinion," the elder Jacobs said from his home in suburban Atlanta. "That's all I've got to say at this point."

Kathy Earhart said her daughter told her recently that Jacobs held a gun to his head and threatened to pull the trigger.

"She (Earhart-Savell) actually felt, I think, that she could calm him down and help him because he had threatened suicide before," Earhart said, adding that she last saw her daughter Monday night at her Plano home. "She was trying to help - not to say that she didn't care for him - but toward the end, it was fear more than care."

The two regularly worked out in health clubs together, Kathy Earhart said. Jacobs was an amateur bodybuilder and Earhart-Savell was a "figure competitor" whose striking body graced the pages of fitness magazines, she said.

Earhart said she was hurt by some media reports that implied that her daughter was a bodybuilder. Earhart said that symmetry and beauty are important in figure competitions so "she wouldn't need to take steroids," because the drugs would have made her too big and bulky.

David Jacobs said he sold tens of thousands of dollars worth of performance-enhancing drugs to former Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Matt Lehr in 2006 and 2007. Lehr has also played for Tampa Bay and Atlanta. Lehr's attorney has denied his client used banned substances after a four-game suspension in 2006.

The NFL said Thursday it is evaluating information provided by Jacobs.

Jacobs' attorney, Hank Hockeimer, didn't return a phone call and e-mail seeking comment Friday.