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The Alabama TV reporter who died of an apparent suicide at the weekend revealed a year ago that he and his family had received death threats after he broke news of the secret 2016 tarmac meeting between Bill Clinton and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

Christopher Sign, 45, was found dead in his home in Hoover, just outside Birmingham, on Saturday. 

Police are investigating the father-of-three's death as a suicide but have not released any further information. 

Sign was the first to report on President Clinton's meeting with Lynch back in 2016 on her private jet at Phoenix airport amid the ongoing investigation into whether Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while Secretary of State was illegal. 

Days after the meeting, the FBI chose not to bring criminal charges against Hillary. 

Sign revealed in an interview with Fox News back in February last year that he and his family received death threats and his credit cards were hacked in the aftermath. 

Alabama TV reporter Christopher Sign, 45, was found dead in his home in Hoover, just outside Birmingham, on Saturday. Sign revealed in an interview with Fox News back in February last year that he and his family received death threats after he broke news of the secret 2016 tarmac meeting between Bill Clinton and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch 

'My family received significant death threats shortly after breaking this story,' Sign said in the interview to promote his book, titled 'Secret on the Tarmac', about the meeting. 

Sign said he and his wife Laura had prepared their three young children in case something happened by giving them 'secret code words', adding that 'they know what to do'. 

'That's why I came back to... Birmingham because when I was enduring the death threats it was my former Alabama football family - my teammates, my coaches - who circled around me.' 

The story that led to the death threats had alleged that Clinton and Lynch met on her private jet to speak about the email investigation into Hillary amid the 2016 election campaign. 

Clinton and Lynch later claimed it was an impromptu friendly chat. 

'We knew something had occurred that was a bit unusual. It was a planned meeting. It was not a coincidence,' Sign said in an interview about the meeting. 

Donald Trump tweeted at the time his story broke: 'Does anybody really believe that Bill Clinton and the U.S.A.G. talked only about 'grandkids' and golf for 37 minutes in plane on tarmac?'

After news of the meeting broke, Lynch was required to outline what happened to then Justice Department Inspector Michael Horowitz and to lawmakers behind closed doors on Capitol Hill. 

Police are investigating the father-of-three's death as a suicide but have not released any further information. Sign is survived by his wife and their three young boys 

The story that led to the death threats had alleged that Clinton and Lynch met on her private jet to speak about the email investigation into Hillary amid the 2016 election campaign. Bill Clinton approaching AG Lynch's jet on the tarmac at Phoenix airport in June 2016

Clinton and Lynch later claimed the meeting was an impromptu friendly chat 

'As we walked to the door, the head of my security detail came to me and said: 'Ma'am, I've been informed … that former President Clinton is also at the airfield and would like to say hello.'' Lynch testified.  

She said Clinton 'spoke with him for several minutes, asked about our trip, asked about our flight.' 

Lynch described how she recalled recent press about the Clintons' new grandchild and congratulated Bill. She said the roughly twenty minute parley was 'the only real conversation I've ever had with him.' 

Lynch said she made attempts to make a gracious exit more than once but that Clinton 'continued chatting. He continued talking.' 

She added in her testimony: 'And at one point a staffer of mine came on the plane to get me. And at that point the president was - Mr. Clinton was then talking about Brexit.

'He was saying that either he had been reading an article about Brexit, and he made a reference - he quoted something that had been in The Times - The New York Times, I should say - about Brexit when my staffer was stepping on to the plane.'

She was questioned about whether she felt that the conversation was going on too long and conceded, 'As we were leaving I felt that it was - it certainly was going to raise a potential issue in the appearance of how the case was being handled.'  

The FBI chose not to bring criminal charges against Hillary at the time but the probe was reopened less than two weeks before the election when emails were found on a laptop belonging to top Clinton aide Huma Abedin's husband Anthony Weiner.  

The FBI began investigating Weiner in 2015 after DailyMail.com revealed that he was in a 'sexting' relationship with a 15-year-old girl. 

Then-FBI Director James Comey sent a letter to Congress in late October announcing the reopened investigation but closed it two days before the election. 

Critics believe the timing of Comey's letter may have cost Hillary the election to Donald Trump.  

Christopher Sign, who broke the 2016 story about Bill Clinton's tarmac meeting with then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch, has died of an apparent suicide. Sign is seen above last year holding a copy of his book Secret On The Tarmac

Christopher Sign, 45, seen left alongside his wife, Laura, died of an apparent suicide on Saturday, according to police in Hoover, Alabama

Sign was a former football player for the University of Alabama college football team in Tuscaloosa 

Meanwhile, police haven't revealed any of the circumstances regarding Sign's apparent suicide.

They received a 911 call at 8.13am on Saturday of a person down at his home and found his body when they arrived. 

Sign leaves behind his wife and their three young children. 

He was a former University of Alabama football player and veteran broadcast journalist with Birmingham's ABC TV affiliate WBMA-LD 33/40.  

Prior to becoming a journalist, Sign attended the University of Alabama in the 1990s where he played on the school's football team as an offensive lineman. While in Tuscaloosa, he met his wife who was an All-SEC volleyball player for the Crimson Tide. 

Sign later spent time working as a reporter for ABC 33/40 between 2000 and 2005 before relocating to Phoenix where he worked for the ABC-TV affiliate.

It was there that he broke the story of the tarmac meeting. 

Sign returned home to Alabama in 2017.  

The station paid tribute to him in a statement on Sunday, saying: 'What most people don't know is Chris turned down an opportunity to work for one of the national networks to come to ABC 33/40 and he made that decision because of his family.

'That decision put him in a place where he could see his boys off to school in the mornings, watch them play baseball in the evenings, and take them fishing on the weekends.' 

The owner of the station, Sinclair Broadcast Group Vice President and General Manager Eric S. Land, said: 'Our deepest sympathy is shared with Chris's loving family and close friends. 

'We have lost a revered colleague whose indelible imprint will serve forever as a hallmark of decency, honesty and journalist integrity. 

'We can only hope to carry on Chris's legacy. May his memory be for blessing.'