GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) - A western Pennsylvania man who had been charged with kidnapping a woman at gunpoint earlier this month has died days after he was found to have hanged himself in his county jail cell.
The Westmoreland County coroner tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (https://bit.ly/LxyXJx ) that the family of 42-year-old Dennis Backus took him off life support Wednesday night. An autopsy Thursday revealed he died of injuries consistent with being found hanged on Monday.
Coroner Kenneth Bacha (BATCH’-uh) says Backus was likely brain dead before he was admitted a Greensburg hospital.
State police arrested the Hempfield man on Jan. 23, a week after he allegedly abducted the woman at gunpoint. Backus had been under a protection-from-abuse order to have no contact with the New Stanton woman when the abduction occurred.
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Information from: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, https://pghtrib.com
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