Inmate death investigation ongoing
Published 10:28 pm Tuesday, July 2, 2019
Kentucky State Police continue to investigate the death of Boyle County inmate Jaron Taylor, but no definitive answer on why the 24-year-old died has been released. Authorities say they will not have answers until an autopsy on Taylor’s body is returned.
Taylor, who was from Harrodsburg, was transported on June 29 from the Boyle County Detention Center to Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
According to Jailer Brian Wofford, Taylor was booked into the jail on Jan. 20, on charges of trespassing, theft and burglary out of Mercer County.
Due to the ongoing investigation, Wofford could not comment further.
Wofford did say he asked KSP to investigate because of “the quality of the investigation, and to be as open as possible to the public.”
Trooper Robert Purdy, public affairs officer for KSP Post 7 in Richmond, said Det. Frank Thornberry is heading up the case. But so far, there’s not much to go on, he said.
“There were no signs of trauma; it may be natural causes,” Purdy said.
This week, Boyle County Coroner Don Hamner said it would be three to four weeks before the autopsy results would be returned. “There were no signs of foul play,” Hamner said, but also no medical answers to the cause of death, either.
According to Taylor’s obituary in the Harrodsburg Herald, he graduated from Mercer County Senior High School, was a self-employed handyman and attended the Little Zion Baptist Church in Burgin. He is survived by his parents, a sister and a brother.