Death Row Inmate Found Hanged in Cell

Days before execution date in Ohio

Facing lethal injection in a matter of days, Ohio murderer Billy Slagle apparently hanged himself in his prison cell early Sunday, state corrections officials said.

Slagle was discovered in his cell at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution just after 5 a.m. Sunday and pronounced dead about an hour later, said Jo Ellen Smith, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections. He was to have been put to death Tuesday, Smith said.

Slagle had been on death row since 1988, convicted of murder after stabbing a neighbor to death in her Cleveland home. Ohio's parole board voted 6-4 against his petition for clemency in June, and Gov. John Kasich denied his request on July 24.