DARDANELLE -- Preliminary indications are that an inmate at the Yell County jail in Dardanelle killed himself, Chief Sheriff's Deputy John Foster said Thursday.
A jailer found Lee Aaron Baca, 31, of Plainview hanging from an upper bunk with a bed sheet wrapped around his neck late Tuesday, Foster said earlier.
Sheriff Bill Gilkey has asked the Arkansas State Police to investigate, and the body will be sent to the state medical examiner's office for an autopsy, Foster said in a release Wednesday.
Baca was jailed on allegations of child molestation and was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail. He had been transferred from the county's Danville jail to the Dardanelle lockup Saturday.
The jailer who found Baca summoned emergency workers and others, but Baca could not be revived, Foster said. No other inmates were in the cell with Baca at the time, the chief deputy added.
The investigation's findings will be submitted to the prosecuting attorney's office for review, Foster said.
State Desk on 01/08/2016