A detainee at the Cook County jail died Thursday evening in an apparent suicide, the sheriff’s office said today.
Jail staff found Trumell Holmes unresponsive with a bed sheet around his neck and tied to his cell door at about 9 p.m., according to a sheriff’s spokesperson. Holmes, age 31, reportedly did not have a cellmate.
Department of Corrections workers began CPR and Chicago Fire Department paramedics responded to the scene. Holmes was pronounced dead at 9:47 p.m.
Holmes entered the jail on January 14 after a judge set his bail at $5,000 on a domestic battery charge, the sheriff’s office said. Holmes was accused of pouring Kool-Aid over a woman’s head and punching her in the face. The woman suffered “extreme swelling and a bloody nose,” according to the sheriff’s statement.
On April 22, a judge agreed to release Holmes on a recognizance bond with electronic monitoring, but he remained jailed because state law prohibits releasing domestic violence defendants on electronic monitoring to an address where their alleged victim lives.
“No suitable alternate location could be identified,” the sheriff’s office said. Holme’s bail conditions were ordered to stand during a second bail review on May 15.
The sheriff’s office and the Illinois State Police are conducting a death investigation.