A group of people marched from Lenoir Avenue and Independence Street to the Lenoir County Courthouse in the rain protesting the alleged suicide of inmate Matthew Powell on Sunday afternoon.
Among the couple of dozen or so protestors were some of Powell’s family members, including his cousin Lola Washington, who traveled from Massachusetts to find out what happened.
“I am here,” she said as she stood in front of the courthouse, “because I believe, I know, that my cousin, my first cousin, did not commit suicide in jail because I know him. And there are other things that I know that I can’t tell you right now. But we are sure that he did not kill himself.”
Washington said she simply wants an investigation done.
The Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office released a statement Friday saying the incident happened at about 3:48 p.m. on Thursday.
A detention officer was moving an inmate into Powell’s cell when he saw that Powell was hanging from an upper bunk with a bed sheet wrapped around his throat. He was unresponsive, according to the report.
EMS was called immediately and life-saving measures were initiated, but Powell could not be revived, the report states. His last recorded check was at 3:40 p.m.
Lenoir County Sheriff Chris Hill said as far as he’s concerned, it’s a case of suicide and nothing further.
Family members of Powell are saying they got mixed messages from the sheriff’s office and weren’t allowed to see Powell’s body at the funeral home.
“The body goes to Lenoir (Memorial Hospital),” Hill explained, “then it goes for autopsy, and once it’s through with the autopsy, it gets released to the funeral home. That’s it.”
Stephen Carraway III, CEO of Albritton-Carraway Funeral Home — the funeral home carrying out Powell’s arrangements — said any reason family members wouldn’t be able to see the body earlier is because of the normal process of getting the body ready for viewing.
“They generally view the body the day before the funeral,” he said.
One of the protestors, David Bell, said he marched with the family members to show them support.
On Monday, he said the family was making arrangements for a church funeral and planned to get a picket permit Tuesday.
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr. Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 and Wes.Wolfe@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.