Springfield man who killed hospital guard becomes 4th Licking inmate to die in a week
Officials say an inmate from the South Central Correctional Center in Licking, Missouri, who was convicted of second-degree murder for killing a Cox North Hospital security guard in Springfield in 2008 died Tuesday morning.
Jeffrey Bolden, 55, was serving a life sentence in prison for kicking 62-year-old Monte Ruby in the back of the head. Ruby, who was a security guard at Cox North Hospital had been attempting to restrain Bolden after Bolden sustained some injuries during police officers' pursuit to arrest him.
Several days after the encounter, according to previous News-Leader reporting, Ruby collapsed and ultimately died. The Greene County Medical Examiner determined that Ruby had died of serious injuries to his brain stem, ones that are believed to have been inflicted by the single blow from Bolden.
Bolden was found guilty of second-degree murder and armed criminal action by a Boone County jury — the trial was moved after a motion for a change of venue — and a judge sentenced him to life.
Bolden was more than 10 years into his sentence when he was taken to Cox Medical
Center South in Springfield this week where he later died. According to the Missouri Department of Corrections, Bolden died of natural causes.
Bolden was the fourth inmate housed at South Central Correctional Center to die within the last week.
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On Aug. 31, 27-year-old Kaleb Smith was pronounced dead at Texas County
Memorial Hospital in Houston, Missouri. Smith was serving a 26-year sentence on multiple charges including burglary, forgery, stealing, possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of a firearm.
An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death.
On Thursday, Sept. 1, both 42-year-old Terrell Dawson and 64-year-old Roy Sinden were pronounced dead. Sinden appeared to have died of natural causes according to the Missouri Department of Corrections, and an autopsy will be conducted on Dawson to determine his cause of death.
Dawson was serving multiple life sentences for first-degree murder, armed criminal action, kidnapping and burglary all stemming from incidents in Buchanan County. Sinden was serving a 10-year sentence for driving while intoxicated in Boone County.
Jordan Meier covers public safety for the Springfield News-Leader. Contact her at jmeier@news-leader.com, or on Twitter @Jordan_Meier644.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Man who killed Cox North guard is 4th inmate to die in a week
