The Cole County Sheriff's Department is investigating a homicide at the Jefferson City Correctional Center, or JCCC, involving two inmates.
According to a release, JCCC officials contacted the Sheriff's Department at 4:55 p.m. Sunday about a homicide in the facilities 7 House, after JCCC staff were contacted by inmates in a neighboring cell to "a violent disturbance." Upon entering the cell, the suspect, Ryan A. Vaught, 23, was detained and placed into a segregated unit. The victim, Daniel P. Skipper, 65, was found with multiple wounds on his face and scalp, as well as a piece of fabric wrapped around his neck.
Efforts to revive Skipper were unsuccessful.
Skipper was serving a sentence for statutory rape/sodomy. His cellmate, Vaught, was serving a sentence for armed criminal action and assault on law enforcement.
The investigation is ongoing and an autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday.