Suspect in girlfriend’s murder kills himself in Northern California jail hours after arrest, authorities say
Police are asking the public to help identify the suspect in the death of a woman found hanged in a jail cell in Alameda County, Calif. Police said Friday that they do not believe the woman committed suicide.
A man was taken into custody in Alameda County, Calif., on suspicion of murder Thursday after a woman was found hanging in a cell in a county jail hours earlier, jail officials said.
Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahern said the woman’s death is being investigated as a homicide. No further information was immediately available.
The incident followed a bizarre afternoon in the Alameda County jail, where four people were booked on suspicion of shoplifting, but released before an investigation could be completed, sheriff’s officials said.
None of those involved is in the county jail, the sheriff’s department said.
Investigators learned Thursday of a similar situation in a jail a few blocks away, where a woman was taken into custody and released after failing to show up at a preliminary hearing, the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office said.
The woman was later found lying in an open cell in the same building, according to a jail official, and paramedics found she was unresponsive.
The woman was transported to a hospital for exam and did not survive, police said.
No further details about the incident were immediately available. It is not clear whether anyone knows the woman or the man suspected of killing her.
A public defender’s office spokeswoman said the woman was found hanging in a cell in the Sheriff’s Community Services Building at 25th and San Leandro streets on Thursday.
The name of the woman is being withheld as she is being examined by friends and family as a potential victim of homicide, the public defender’s office said.
Earlier this week, a woman was arrested in Alameda County Jail after allegedly shoplifting, then being released without facing charges, authorities said.
A man, who later died in his jail cell, was booked on suspicion of burglary of a commercial motor vehicle and a motor vehicle theft, but a woman was apparently not among the people booked on those charges, authorities said.
Police were called to another jail about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday after an officer saw