LAWRENCE COUNTY Inmate kills self in cell

He was accused of four robberies in Neshannock Township.
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- A man jailed in four robberies involving a sickle or a knife apparently killed himself in his cell, authorities said.
Michael Mikkanen, 20, of East Hazelcroft Ave., was found unresponsive around 8:05 p.m. Tuesday in the Lawrence County Jail. A jail nurse tried to revive him with a defibrillator, but he was pronounced dead at 8:40 p.m., police said.
Mikkanen had been arrested Tuesday in four robberies in Neshannock Township. Police said Mikkanen confessed robbing the Family Dollar store on Wilmington Road on Tuesday evening. As police questioned him, he also confessed three other robberies, including the same Family Dollar store Sept. 22, Pizza Joe's on Highland Avenue on Sept. 20 and Dusty's Hair Salon on North Mercer Street on Sept. 26. Police said a sickle or knife was used in the robberies.
Warden Mark Fellows said Mikkanen was housed alone in a pre-classification unit used to evaluate all new inmates.
He had been placed in the jail Tuesday night after being arraigned and failing to post $25,000 bond, police said.
Mikkanen apparently tied his shoelaces together and around his neck before rolling off a top bunk, police said.
Fellows said there was nothing to indicate Mikkanen was suicidal when he entered the jail. The official cause of death won't be determined until after an autopsy is done, but police have classified Mikkanen's death as an apparent suicide.