OGLETHORPE – A man convicted of a 2010 murder in Hall County was found unresponsive in his Macon State Prison cell on Saturday.
Medical personnel tried to revive Brian Villa-Rivera, 24, but were unable. Officials said it appeared to be a suicide.
Villa-Rivera was serving a life sentence for the March, 2010, death of Ramon Hernandez, 67, at the East Ridge Mobile Home Park.
Villa-Rivera was a suspected gang member who spent six years on the run before being tracked down by U.S. Marshalls in Mexico. He entered a guilty plea to Hernandez’s murder following his arrest and subsequent extradition back to Hall County in May of 2016.
Villa-Rivera was 16 at the time of the murder and believed to be a member of the SUR 13 street gang.
