Pelican Bay Inmate Found Unresponsive, Later Dies; Cellmate A Suspect

CRESCENT CITY, Calif. (AP) — Officials at a maximum-security Northern California state prison say they are investigating an inmate's death as a homicide.

Pelican Bay State Prison officials say 29-year-old Neil Z. Ramirez was found unresponsive in his cell early Monday. He was pronounced dead less than an hour later.

His 35-year-old cellmate was considered a suspect. The cellmate, who was not being named because of the ongoing investigation, is serving a life prison sentence for a Los Angeles County murder.

Ramirez was serving an eight-year sentence for kidnapping, also from Los Angeles County.

The prison holds about 2,100 inmates along California's far northern coast near the Oregon border.