Originally published March 17, 2010 at 11:55 a.m., updated March 17, 2010 at 11:55 a.m.
According to St. Louis Metropolitan Police officials, it is unclear why a woman being held by police hanged herself in her jail cell.
The 32-year-old woman was taken into custody around 2:00 p.m. Tuesday in the 5400 block of Southwest Avenue for an outstanding bench warrants. She was taken to the south patrol area station where she was being held.
Around 3:00 p.m., the victim was found hanging in the holding cell. She had used an item of her clothing to hang herself. Police said they immediately took the woman down and contacted EMS. She was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.
According to police, the woman gave police the name of a relative instead of her own when arrested. However the relative whose name she used when falsely identifying herself turned out to have outstanding bench warrants. The victim was cooperative with police after being taken into custody and showed no signs of suicidal behavior, authorities said.
The investigation is being handled by the homicide division, which handles any cases of an in-custody death.
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