San Quentin Death Row Inmate Found Hanging In Cell
SAN QUENTIN (CBS/AP) -- A death row inmate convicted of killing a 13-year-old boy has committed suicide, according to state prison officials.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said 68-year-old James Lee Crummel was pronounced dead Sunday after being found hanging in his cell at San Quentin State Prison.
Crummel had been on death row since being convicted in 2004 of kidnapping, molesting and killing James Wilfred Trotter. The boy disappeared on his way to school in Riverside County in 1979.
His body was not found until 1990, when Crummel told police he'd found a skull while hiking. The body was not identified until 1996.
Crummel's attorney said at his sentencing that her client could not express regret for a crime he did not commit. Crummel was already serving life for molesting an Orange County teenager.
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