COLUMBUS – Authorities say a central Ohio police detective who was arrested last week on federal drug charges killed himself in jail, even as prosecutors begin searching for cases that will have to be dismissed because of Tye Downard’s involvement.
READ MORE: In The Columbus Dispatch
This article has been corrected to remove information indicating that Rhianna Felicia was a suicide victim.
The Delaware County Sheriff’s Office says Downard, 43, hanged himself in his one-person cell early Monday.
He was found dead at approximately 1:30 a.m. during hourly inmate checks and Sheriff Russell martin says jail staff tried to revive him or keep him alive until medics arrived and took him to Grady Memorial Hospital. The Westerville resident had not been on suicide watch. Other details weren’t available, but the sheriff’s office says there was no negligence by employees.
“I have spent time with the jail staff since early this morning – these are competent and caring employees who have been greatly impacted by these events,” Martin said in a statement issued by his office Monday.
A second inmate, Rhianna Michelle Filichia, also died in the jail, but Martin says there is no evidence the two cases are related.
A preliminary coroner’s report indicates Filichia’s death was most likely due to peritonitis, a potentially fatal condition caused by an infection in the intestines that then spreads into the abdominal cavity, Delaware County Coroner Dr. Mark Hickman announced. The results findings are preliminary pending results of toxicology tests, he said.
Autopsies on Downard and Felicia by the Franklin County Coroner’s Office will weigh heavily into the investigations but Martin says it might be six to eight weeks before investigators have results.
Downard, who was a detective in Reynoldsburg, was arrested Thursday and charged with delivering drugs including heroin, cocaine, marijuana and Percocet pills to an individual to sell.
Prosecutors have dismissed the first of what could be many drug cases jeopardized because of Downard’s role in the investigations.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien tells The Columbus Dispatch his office was auditing the cases in which Downard participated as a Reynoldsburg officer or as a member of the county’s drug task force from 2013 until now. So far, investigators have found 50 cases, O’Brien said.
“I expect other cases to be dismissed, but I can’t say how many,” O’Brien said.
The case dismissed was scheduled for trial Monday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. O’Brien said he believed his office could not go forward with a case that could have involved a law officer tampering with evidence. The defendant pleaded guilty in another drug case unrelated to the charge arising from the search warrant in which Downard was involved, the prosecutor said.
Federal authorities say Downard made more than 20 deliveries of narcotics between October 2015 and February 2016. Court documents say some of the drugs were seized during police investigations.