HOLMES COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) — A man who was arrested after a lengthy police pursuit through multiple Panhandle counties committed suicide while in the Holmes County Jail, Holmes County Sheriff’s deputies said Tuesday.
Officials said the body of Joshua Cornelius, of Lebanon, Tenn., was discovered Thursday afternoon in a confinement cell.
“An on-duty correctional deputy at the Holmes County Jail was conducting a routine security check when he observed an inmate alone in a confinement cell who had tied a piece of bedding around his neck and secured the other end to the cell door,” they wrote.
Deputies performed life-saving measures on Cornelius and called for an ambulance but he was pronounced dead by emergency medical services.
Cornelius was arrested twice in early December. First, on charges of possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia and then for allegedly stealing a U-Haul from a Santa Rosa Beach business and leading police on a multi-county chase.
Cornelius’ death is under investigation, deputies said.
