Man Who Killed Detective Found Dead In San Quentin Cell: Officials

SAN QUENTIN, CA — A man serving a death row sentence for the murder of an off-duty Los Angeles police detective died Monday morning at the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, according to state prison officials.

A jury convicted Daniel Jenkins of gunning down Thomas C. Williams as he picked up his son from daycare on Halloween in 1985, just hours after the detective testified against him in an armed robbery trial. According to the Los Angeles Times, the jury also found Jenkins guilty of attempted murder for an earlier shooting of a North Hollywood movie theater manager.

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The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Jenkins, 68, was found unresponsive in his cell, and he was pronounced dead by Marin County medics shortly before 7 a.m. Monday. According to the prison, Jenkins lived in a single cell, and his death was being investigated as a suicide, pending the results of an autopsy to confirm his cause of death.