STILLWATER, Minn. — A special investigation is underway after an inmate was found dead in a Minnesota Correctional Facility-Stillwater prison cell, surrounded by substances that tested positive for narcotics.
A Department of Corrections (DOC) spokesman says prison staff found 30-year-old Castle Rogers Ahlbeck unresponsive around 11 a.m. Monday. Staffers performed lifesaving measures until outside paramedics arrived, but Ahlbeck was pronounced dead on the scene.
Inside Ahlbeck's cell guards found substances and paraphernalia consistent with suspected narcotics use. Preliminary tests were positive for the presence of both methamphetamine and fentanyl, the DOC said.
While the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office determines an official cause of death, the DOC Office of Special Investigations and local law enforcement will attempt to determine how the drugs suspected of killing Ahlbeck got inside the Stillwater Prison walls.
DOC spokesman Nicholas Kimball says investigators are already working "several leads" related to the source of the drugs.
According to court records, Ahlbeck was serving an 18 year sentence for first-degree assault and illegal possession of a firearm.
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