State Police are investigating the death of an incarcerated man at the Upstate Correctional Facility in Malone, which has been ruled a homicide.
Troopers were called to the prison on Bare Hill Road around 9:10 p.m. on August 14, after correction officers discovered blood inside a cell and found 35-year-old Antawon R. Johnson lying unconscious on the floor. Officers immediately began life-saving measures and called for medical staff, but Johnson later died at the facility’s infirmary.
Investigators say Johnson and his cellmate, 28-year-old Arkies Sommerville, were involved in a violent altercation. Johnson was found with a bed sheet and a shoelace around his neck.
An autopsy performed Saturday at Glens Falls Hospital determined Johnson died from asphyxiation due to strangulation. His death was ruled a homicide by forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Sikirica.
The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision’s Office of Special Investigations, the Franklin County District Attorney’s Office, and the Attorney General’s Office are assisting State Police with the case.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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