Autopsy: Inmate Had Health Problems

By Robin Fitzgerald, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.

Feb. 15–A Pearl River County jail inmate’s death on Sunday has been ruled as natural causes.

Deputy Coroner Derek Turnage said an autopsy on Evelyn J. Merrill showed her death was related to health problems. He didn’t specify what type of health problems.

Merrill, 54, was taken to a hospital after corrections officers found her sick in her cell around 11 a.m. Sunday, said Chief Deputy Julie Flowers of the Pearl River County Sheriff’s Department.

Corrections officers contacted the Emergystat ambulance service. Highland Community Hospital in Picayune notified sheriff’s officials of Merrill’s death shortly after 10 p.m. Highland was previously known as Crosby Memorial Hospital.

Merrill had pre-existing health problems, said Flowers, and had been taken to a hospital several times since she was booked Feb. 1.

Merrill lived on 4th Street. She was incarcerated after the Picayune Police Department arrested her in a drug roundup.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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