Clay County jail inmate dead in apparent suicide

LIBERTY, Mo. - An Ottawa, Kan., man who was arrested this week on a felony charge of statutory sodomy has apparently committed suicide in his jail cell.

Clay County Sheriff Bob Boydston said Saturday that when deputies went to check on 46-year-old Eugene A. Hilliard, who was lying in his bunk at 7:25 a.m. covered with sheets and blankets, they saw a pool of blood. They later found that Hilliard had broken his eyeglasses and used a shard of glass to cut his throat. Hilliard was lying with his back to the cell door, and the blood could not be seen from the hallway outside his cell during an overnight welfare check, Boydston said.

Boydston said Hilliard had asked to be isolated from other prisoners and was in his cell alone at the time of his death.

According to court records, Kansas City, Mo., Police arrested Hilliard on Monday, Sept. 3. He was transferred to the Clay County jail Sept. 4.

When asked why Hilliard was arrested elsewhere but jailed in Clay County, the sheriff responded: "There was a crime suspected that occurred in Clay County, but we are unfamiliar with where that might have been.”

Asked whether Hilliard left a suicide note, Boydston said: "All evidence points to suicide, and we will make it known after all family members are notified."