RUSSELL COUNTY, ALABAMA: Bradley Wayne Stokes, a man serving life sentence for murdering his pregnant ex-girlfriend at a domestic violence shelter in Alabama, killed himself in prison on September 17.
He had previously served 14 years of a 16-year sentence in prison for killing another girlfriend in 2008 and was recently released on June 2.
How was Bradley Wayne Stokes found?
Stokes, 39, was found unresponsive in his cell at the Russell County Jail on Sunday, September 17 morning, Sheriff Heath Taylor said at a press conference, according to WRBL.
The RCSO received a call from the jail at around 1.45 am on the same day about an inmate needing an ambulance after passing out from strangulation, the publication reported.
He had left a note on the wall taped by a band-aid, but Taylor did not reveal its contents.
He was previously arrested for weapon charges and manslaughter in the shooting death of his girlfriend Crystal Bailey in 2008.
How did Bradley Wayne Stokes kill himself?
The investigators had placed him on suicide watch, however, on September 9, he was cleared and put off from the watch list after being checked by the psychiatrist.
The report mentioned that Stokes had been on the phone throughout the night and talked to a woman who he had an intimate relationship with.
He was found unresponsive at 1.30 am in his cell and had used strips of his bed sheet to strangle himself.
Why did Bradley Wayne Stokes kill Treasure Hennessey?
Taylor said Stokes believed Hennessey was going to file domestic violence charges against him which would violate his probation and send him back to prison.
He and Hennessey started dating soon after his release, but she filed at least two domestic violence reports against him, Taylor said.
Hennessey had moved out of Stokes’ home in late August and into a domestic violence shelter, where Stokes tracked her down and waited for her outside.
He attacked her with a knife and moved her vehicle behind a barn to hide it before fleeing the scene, Taylor said, as per Law and Crime.
Hennessey was a barber who loved animals and had two sons from a previous relationship.
