Ohio prison officials say an inmate serving a life sentence on an aggravated murder conviction is the victim of a prison homicide.
Prisons spokesperson Ricky Seyfang says Gerald Pierce was killed Sunday afternoon at Grafton Correctional Institution in northeast Ohio. Seyfang says Pierce's cell mate is a suspect in the slaying and has been transferred to another, higher security prison. Seyfang says the two had been cell mates since July without a problem. The 65-year-old Pierce entered the prison system in 1990 on a life sentence for aggravated murder and aggravated robbery out of Cuyahoga County. Pierce's cell mate was also from Cuyahoga County. Pierce is the fifth inmate killed in an Ohio prison this year. The State Highway Patrol is investigating.