Ga Child Killer Dead in Jail Cell; Likely Suicide

ABCnews.go.com ^ | 1/20/12 | GREG BLUESTEIN

[ColdOne]

A 20-year-old maintenance worker who this week pleaded guilty to molesting and killing a 7-year-old girl was found dead of an apparent suicide in his prison cell Thursday, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.

Ryan Brunn was found unresponsive at 4:15 p.m. at the state prison in Jackson, said spokeswoman Kristen Stancil. Brunn was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:37 p.m., Stancil said in an email to The Associated Press. She gave no other details about how he died.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents out of Milledgeville were investigating, said agency spokesman John Bankhead. An autopsy will likely be done Friday at the agency's medical examiner's office in Decatur, he said.

Brunn pleaded guilty on Tuesday to Jorelys Rivera's Dec. 2 killing at a north Georgia apartment complex where she lived and he had worked for about a month.

The girl was reported missing after she left the complex's playground to retrieve sodas at her apartment for her friends. Brunn described in detail to the court how he lured the girl into a vacant apartment and sexually assaulted her. He said he was afraid she would tell her parents so he "cut her." When she didn't die right away, he beat and stabbed her.

Then he put her body in a garbage bag and dumped it in a trash compactor at the complex where it was found.

After his guilty plea, a judge immediately sentenced him to life in prison without parole. Brunn also apologized to the girl's family members who sobbed in the front row of the courtroom when he graphically described how he killed her.

[madrastex]

It was either that, or the old Arkansas standard self inflicted two bullets to the back of the head

[madrastex]

It was either go that route, or the old Arkansas standard self inflicted two bullets to the back of the head.

[funfan]

You are right and I did not mean to come across as being a smart alec. I guess what I meant to say was this person will not be able to be let out of prison which let’s be honest they are let out and they do hurt others again and
again. He will not be doing this again so to me this is
good.

[SoldierDad]

I wasn’t attempting to accuse you of being insensitive. I know you meant well by your comment. I just wish there were a way to stop these people before they abuse and kill their victims.

[scott7278]

I hope he bashed his own face in.