Crawford County Jail inmate facing murder charge after killing pod mate, KBI says
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation says it’s looking into the death of a Crawford County Jail inmate who was assaulted while in custody. A fellow inmate is facing a murder charge.
The inmate, Dante M. Martinez, 20, of Pittsburg, was attacked around 1:15 p.m. on Saturday. Authorities say corrections officers at the jail were alerted around that time and found Martinez, “suffering from severe injuries” when they went to a common area in the jail pod, the KBI said in a news release.
Emergency medical services staff called to the jail provided some medical help and took Martinez to the Girard Medical Center, the KBI said. He was later taken to Freeman Hospital in Joplin, Missouri, and died there shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday. An autopsy is pending.
Authorities at the jail asked the KBI to investigate the death around 2 p.m. Saturday. Under Kansas law, the KBI investigates all in-custody deaths at the state’s jails and prisons unless the deceased inmate was under the regular care of a physician or the death was from natural causes.
Authorities say video surveillance footage from the jail shows 25-year-old Gavin P. Wood of Arma attacking Martinez. Wood was charged with second-degree murder around 1:30 p.m. Monday and has been arrested in connection with the new case, the KBI said.
The agency continued to investigate Martinez’s death on Monday. No other information was released.
This story was originally published October 18, 2021 at 2:58 PM.
