Hanover County authorities believe that the hanging death of an inmate at the Pamunkey Regional Jail was a suicide and that foul play was not involved.
Hanover sheriff's Sgt. Chris Whitley said deputies were summoned to the jail about 1 a.m. Tuesday and found jail officers trying to resuscitate Michael Edward Watson, 48. He was taken to Memorial Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead that day.
Whitley said jail personnel found him unconscious in a one-man cell. A Sheriff's Office investigation found no sign of foul play, Whitley said.
Whitley added that the state medical examiner's office ruled that the cause of death was hanging and that the manner of death was suicide. Attempts to reach a spokesman at the medical examiner's office on Wednesday were unsuccessful.
Watson of Hanover was found one day after he appeared in Hanover Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court to be arraigned on charges of malicious wounding, a felony, and domestic assault, a misdemeanor, according to Whitley and court records. Watson was ordered held without bond.
The malicious wounding allegedly took place Nov. 21, and the domestic assault is alleged to have occurred Jan. 30, according to a court official. Watson was arrested Friday.
The court official and Hanover authorities would not identify the victim in the cases, but Watson's wife, Kathy Watson, confirmed that she was the victim in both cases. She added: "He was a good man and he was a very good father. He had two awesome children who loved him very much."
Maj. Mary N. White of the Pamunkey Regional Jail said she would not discuss Watson's death. "We are currently conducting our internal investigation," she said.
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