Prison board: Man who killed himself wasn’t seen as suicidal

STAFF REPORT

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — A man who hanged himself in the Lawrence County jail this weekend had given no indication he was suicidal, the county prison board president said.

Timothy Steffler, 25, whose last known address was on North Mercer Street in New Castle, had been in the jail since Thursday in lieu of $35,000 bond on burglary and forgery charges, said Dave Gettings, prison board president.

Steffler hanged himself with a bed sheet and was found by a guard in his cell at 2:17 p.m. Saturday, Gettings said.

Gettings said that when the guard found Steffler and got him down, he still had a faint pulse. He was still alive when he was taken from the jail, Gettings said, but was pronounced dead on arrival at Jameson Hospital in New Castle.

“There was no situation or indication he needed to be on a suicide watch,” Gettings said.

Steffler had been charged with breaking into a woman’s house last month and stealing a computer, a debit card and a check.

The woman turned over her bank’s copy of the stolen check to police. It had been made out to Steffler for $90, and it appeared to have his signature on the back, says an affidavit of probable cause on file at District Magistrate Melissa Amodie’s office. It also had his driver’s license number on it, the affidavit says.