Arkansas State Police are investigating what appears to be an inmate suicide at the Varner Super Max unit.
The body of Danny Cromeans, 38, was found at 6:08 a.m. Tuesday by correctional officers, said Dina Tyler, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Correction.
It appears that Cromeans braided his bedsheet through the wire cage that covers an air vent in his cell and then hung himself, Tyler said.
Cromeans was last seen alive at 3 a.m. by a nurse making medication rounds.
The inmate had a lengthy criminal record dating back to the mid-1990s.
On May 21, 1995, Cromeans was charged with residential burglary, kidnapping and the attempted rape of a woman in Columbia County. In that case, the victim said she awoke at 4 a.m. to find Cromeans in her bedroom. Wielding a knife, Cromeans forced the woman out of her home and took her to a location off Arkansas 98, where he tried to rape her.
He was arrested while driving a pickup that had been reported stolen.
While awaiting trial, Cromeans and two other men incarcerated at the Columbia County jail sawed their way out of the facility with a hacksaw blade.
The escape charge filed against Cromeans was dropped eventually because of a delay in prosecution. In a negotiated plea agreement, Cromeans pleaded guilty to residential burglary and first-degree criminal mischief. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
On Aug. 3, 2000, Cromeans was paroled.
Just four months later, he was charged again with rape and kidnapping, according to archives from the Magnolia Banner-News. In that case, Cromeans had visited the home of the victim and asked to use her phone. He left but returned a short time later with a pump shotgun. Cromeans drove the victim to Macedonia, where he raped her, and then drove to another location on the Lafayette/Columbia county line where he raped her a second time. Afterward, Cromeans dropped the victim off a short distance from her home.
He was found guilty on July 20, 2002, and sentenced to life plus 20 years.
Cromeans had a lengthy discipline record in prison, which is why he was housed at the Varner Super Max unit, Tyler said.
State Desk on 11/12/2014