Female inmate dies at jail

It will be several weeks before a cause of death for an inmate at the Bartholomew County Jail will be determined.

Angela L. Blair, 42, of 402 Pennsylvania St., Elizabethtown, collapsed Saturday night just after jail staff arrived at her cell to give her medical attention, said Sgt. Stephen Wheeles, public information officer for the Indiana State Police post in Versailles.

Although emergency treatment was provided and an ambulance summoned at 10:49 p.m., attempts to revive the unresponsive Blair were unsuccessful, Wheeles stated in a new release.

Bartholomew County Coroner Clayton Nolting said he pronounced the woman dead at 11:12 p.m. Saturday.

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Following a Sunday autopsy conducted at Columbus Regional Hospital, toxicology samples were sent to NMS Labs, located just north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for analysis, Nolting said.

Both toxicology results and autopsy findings are expected to be finalized during the last full week of October, Nolting said.

When asked for additional details on the jail incident involving Blair, the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department referred all inquiries to the Indiana State Police, which is handling the investigation.

Blair had been placed in jail after charges of possession of methamphetamine and unlawful possession of a syringe were filed against her in December for an incident that occurred two months earlier.

After being given a suspended two-year sentence May 22, Blair was jailed again a few weeks later on a local warrant charging her with probation violations.

On Aug. 14, Benjamin determined Blair had used methamphetamine while on probation, as well as skipping out from a reporting program, records state.

Consequentially, she was ordered to execute the remaining time of her 388-day sentence in jail, which she was serving at the time of her death.

Probation violations were cited during two earlier drug-related cases involving Blair, according to court records.