FAYETTEVILLE — A Prairie Grove man hanged himself in the Washington County Jail on Thursday night.
Jailers found William Scott Spurgeon, 39, about 10 p.m., said Kelly Cantrell, a Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman. Spurgeon tied his jail-issued clothes together and hanged himself from a bed rail. He was last seen alive about an hour earlier, according to a report from the Sheriff’s Office.
Spurgeon was arrested March 3 in connection with second-degree sexual assault, terroristic threatening, assault on a family member and five counts of rape. Deputies went to his home on Cove Creek Road on March 1 after a 911 call reporting a fight. Two girls told police Spurgeon forced himself on them, according to probable cause reports.
Formal charges hadn’t been filed before Spurgeon’s death, according to records from the Washington County prosecutor’s office.
Jail records indicate the March 3 arrest was Spurgeon’s first in Washington County, Cantrell said. No prior criminal history is listed on the probable cause reports.
Jailers and paramedics performed CPR before taking Spurgeon to Washington Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Spurgeon had been served with divorce papers earlier in the day, Cantrell said.
“Suicides are few and far between in jails, especially since watches were developed for folks who are known to be at risk, but they do happen,” said Chuck Lange, director of the Arkansas Sheriff’s Association. “You really have to work at it, but if these guys are determined to end their lives, they’ll find a way to do it.”
Hanging is a common method, mostly because other methods such as guns or pills aren’t available in jail, Lange said. Most hanging deaths in jails are a result of asphyxiation, not a broken neck, he said.
Spurgeon’s death is the first suicide in the Washington County Jail since the current facility opened in 2005, Cantrell said. Several other attempts have been made, the most recent in December, and other inmates have died of natural causes while being held there, she said.
A Benton County Jail inmate hanged himself in 2010. Thomas Nathaniel Lane, 26, had been jailed in connection with an aggravated robbery in Rogers.