Woman’s apparent suicide investigated

Special to The Vindicator

NEW CASTLE, Pa.

A Slippery Rock, Pa., woman in the Lawrence County Jail apparently committed suicide by hanging herself with a sheet.

Lawrence County Controller David Gettings, who also is president of the county prison board, said Tuesday that Kathleen Ann Rogan, 31, of Saniga Road, was still alive when found Monday morning, but she died shortly after being taken by ambulance to Jameson Hospital.

Gettings said Rogan had just been taken off suicide-watch and put on 30-minute observation before she was discovered.

She had been in jail since Oct. 7 when she was arraigned before District Justice Melissa Amodie on misdemeanor charges of endangering the welfare of a child and driving under the influence as well as charges of public drunkenness and disorderly conduct.

Her bail had been set at $2,000, and she was awaiting a Thursday preliminary hearing. Gettings said the New Castle Police Department is investigating, and the county coroner is expected to rule next week.

Rogan previously had been convicted of criminal conspiracy and retail theft in 2007.