Indiana State Police do not suspect foul play in the death of a Bartholomew County Jail inmate who was found unresponsive in her cell.
An autopsy is planned today at Columbus Regional Hospital for Cathy A. Hull, 61, of 3036 Fairlawn Court, Columbus, who was pronounced dead at the jail Thursday afternoon, Bartholomew County Coroner Clayton Nolting said.
Toxicology tests are pending, state police said.
First responders were called to the jail at 4:40 p.m., where they found Hull unresponsive in her bunk, Nolting said. When the coroner’s office arrived, Hull was the only one in the cell, he said.
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Jail personnel had been distributing dinner trays to inmates and had placed Hull’s meal in the door shelf for her to pick up, Nolting said. When they returned and saw the tray on the door, they attempted to knock and wake her but she did not respond, he said.
First responders did perform CPR and Nolting pronounced Hull dead in her cell, he said.
Arrest records at the jail indicate Hull was being held on a warrant arrest by the Columbus Police Department for violation of probation on an original charge of conversion.
The records show she was arrested Wednesday and was being held at the jail in lieu of $7,500 bond.
A fact-finding hearing in Hull’s case was held in Bartholomew Superior Court 2 on Monday and court records show Hull failed to appear for that hearing, resulting in the arrest warrant being issued on Tuesday.
Court records also state Hull owed $649 in court costs and filing fees at the time of her death.
Before Hull’s death on Thursday, the most recent inmate death at the Bartholomew County Jail was that of Angela Blair, 42, Elizabethtown, who overdosed on methamphetamine Oct. 7, 2017.
Debin P. Gabbard of Columbus was sentenced to serve 21 years with the Indiana Department of Correction after smuggling narcotics into the jail that led to Blair’s death, Indiana State Police investigators said. A second inmate charged in the case — Mary L. Snyder, also of Columbus — pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine and was ordered to serve two-and-a-half years in prison.
