This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A convicted rapist and murderer at the Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison was dead Friday after being assaulted by his cellmate, prison officials reported.
Utah Department of Corrections spokeswoman Brooke Adams did not detail specifically how Carlos-Adrian Javier Hernandez, 24, died — other than to say he was "physically assaulted" and that the death was "being investigated as a homicide."
"Officers heard suspicious noises coming from the cell at approximately 8 p.m. [Thursday] and went to investigate," Adams stated. "They observed [Hernandez] unconscious on the floor. Officers entered the cell, removed the cellmate and medical staff immediately began tending Hernandez."
The inmate was rushed to Gunnison Valley Hospital and then flown by helicopter to Utah Valley Hospital in Provo, where he was pronounced dead at 12:41 a.m. Friday.
A joint investigation into the death is being conducted by the prison's Law Enforcement Bureau and the Gunnison City Police Department.
Hernandez, a Mexican national, was serving a 15-to-life sentence for murder and a five-years-to-life term for rape in the 2007 death of 15-year-old Keely Amber Hall of St. George.
Hernandez, who was 14 when he committed the murder, originally was charged in juvenile court, where he was bound over to the adult court. He was 15 at the time he was sentenced to prison.
Hernandez had met the victim in the early-morning hours of Jan. 10, 2007, at Dixie Downs Park in St. George, where he made sexual advances and was rebuffed, according to prosecutors. Hernandez then raped and strangled the girl.
The suspect in Hernandez's death was identified as 25-year-old Julio Cesar Garza. He is serving time for aggravated robbery, possession of a prohibited item in a correctional facility and assault by a prisoner.
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