Ryan Brunn Dead in Jail Cell After Apparent 'Suicide'
Ryan Brunn is believed to have committed suicide in his jail cell Thursday, two days after being sentenced to life in jail for killing 7-year-old Jorelys Rivera.
On Wednesday The Christian Post reported that the 20-year-old maintenance worker had confessed to sexually assaulting and killing Rivera, but it is now confirmed that Brunn was found dead after allegedly hanging himself, according to CNN.
Kristen Stancil, a Georgia Department of Corrections spokeswoman, confirmed that Brunn's lifeless body was found at approximately 4:15 p.m. in his jail cell at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison.
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He was immediately rushed to hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead at 5:37 p.m.
Brunn, who had no prior criminal history, told the Cherokee County judge on Tuesday that he had killed Rivera because he "didn't want her to go home and tell her mom or dad on me."
Brunn allegedly became nervous after luring Rivera into his apartment on Dec. 2 before abusing her, so he decided to slit her throat before repeatedly hitting her in the head with a skate, according to CBS Atlanta.
Rivera's body was found in a trash compactor in Canton Georgia, just a few days after her mother, Joselinne Rivera, had reported her missing.
The court read Joselinne's personal statement on Tuesday.
"The rest of my life I am going to feel terrible and destroyed because of the harm you did to my daughter," Joselinne's statement read.
"I desire this man the worst possible of the world and that they do to him the worst so he suffers," the statement added.
Brunn had insisted that the murder was not premeditated, suggesting that it was random and spur-of-the-moment.
"I'd like to apologize for everything that's done. Lo siento," Brunn said just days before allegedly taking his own life, using the Spanish phrase for "I'm sorry."
