Ariel Castro, the Cleveland man who held three women captive for a decade, has died after apparently hanging himself inside his prison cell.
The 53-year-old was found in his cell at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio, at 9.20pm on Tuesday, prison officials said.
Prison medical staff performed CPR on him before he was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead 90 minutes later.
JoEllen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said Castro was being held in protective custody because of the notoriety of the case.
This meant he was checked every 30 minutes, but he was not on suicide watch.
His three victims - Gina DeJesus, Amanda Berry and Michelle Knight - disappeared between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16 and 20-years-old.
Before the sentencing, Castro's lawyers had unsuccessfully tried to have a psychological examination of their client.
They argued Castro fit the profile of sociopathic disorder, and said they hoped researchers would study him for clues that could be used to stop other predators.
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Sounds like 'suicide by cop' to me.
