LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska authorities say an inmate on death row for the 1985 cult killings of two people, including a 5-year-old boy, had died in custody.
Spokeswoman Jessica Houseman for the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution in southeast Nebraska confirmed Monday that 66-year-old Michael Ryan died in prison. Houseman said he died around 5:45 p.m. Sunday. She said an autopsy would be performed to determine the cause of death.
Ryan was convicted in the torture and killing of 26-year-old James Thimm at a southeast Nebraska farm near Rulo, where Ryan led a cult, and in the beating death of Luke Stice, the 5-year-old son of a cult member.
Ryan has been on death row since his convictions.
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