Inquest rules N.C. inmate killed self in Clarke jail

ATHENS - A murder suspect who was found dead in his cell at the Clarke County Jail last year strangled himself with bed sheets, a jury at a coroner&#39;s inquest ruled Friday. <br> <br> Richard Charles Watson, 22, was being held on a murder warrant from Greensboro, N.C., and was fighting extradition back to that state when he was found dead March 11. <br> <br> Watson fashioned a rope from the sheets and attached it to a light fixture in his cell, according to testimony at the inquest, which was held in Clarke County Magistrate Court. <br> <br> Watson was charged in the Jan. 6, 2001, stabbing death of his 56-year-old neighbor, Virginia Simpson, in Greensboro, N.C. Athens-Clarke County police arrested Watson two days later after seeing his car at a convenience store.