David Kellerman, the chief financial officer of money-bleeding mortgage firm Freddie Mac, was found dead in his Virginia home this morning. He'd apparently committed suicide. The financial crisis would be one obvious possible motive.

Police haven't released his cause of death yet, so little is known beyond the fact that he's killed himself. Kellerman was named acting CFO of Freddie Mac (which is currently under investigation by the SEC and the US attorney's office) in September of 2008, and the company was searching for a permanent replacement. That timing would certainly place him—or anyone—under professional stress. So would this job description:

As acting chief financial officer, Kellermann is responsible for the company's financial controls, financial reporting, tax, capital oversight, and compliance with the requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley. He also oversees the company's annual budgeting and financial planning processes.

Other suicides that people *speculate* may have been partially or totally caused by this economic meltdown include a Chicago real estate mogul who shot himself in January, a German billionaire who jumped in front of a train after a bad stock bet, and a French money manager who killed himself after losing his clients' money to Bernie Madoff. Nobody knows yet if Kellerman bent to the stress of his job, or if something else was going on.

Kellerman was a volunteer board member for the DC Coalition for the Homeless, which makes him a decent guy. He was 41 years old.