Mary Cristan, 44-year-old female, serving 5 yrs. for assault of public official.Found dead in her cell with her hands tied behind her back, cellmate suspected of murder.Cristan was 72 days short of release date in July.

POLICE NEWS: Inmate found dead

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Investigators are looking into the death of a Central Texas state prison inmate after she was found lying in her cell with her hands bound.

Mary Cristan, 44, was found at about 10:44 p.m. Saturday at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Hobby Unit near Marlin. Guards found Cristan after they saw her cellmate standing at the cell door saying she was unresponsive, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said.

Guards began CPR, and an ambulance took Cristan to Falls Community Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 11:58 p.m.

Lyons said investigators were looking at the 26-year-old cellmate as a possible suspect, because she had scratches and abrasions from a previous altercation that night.

Cristan was serving a five-year term for assault on a public servant in Tom Green County, Lyons said.

Cristan had been at the unit since June 10, 2003, and was scheduled for release in July.

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