Death row inmate Edward Dean Bridges, 55, dies Thursday morning of suicide. (Photo provided by California Department of Corrections)A condemned inmate at San Quentin State Prison was found dead in his cell Thursday in an apparent suicide, authorities said.
Edward Dean Bridges, 55, had been on death row since 1992, when he was sentenced for a kidnapping and murder in Riverside County. He was found unconscious in his cell early Thursday morning in an apparent hanging, said Darrell Harris, a Marin County coroner’s investigator.
“Our pathologist didn’t have anything to indicate it was anything other than self-asphyxiation by suicide,” Harris said.
Bridges was housed in a cell by himself. He left no suicide message and had no history of suicidal behavior, Harris said.
Since California reinstated capital punishment in 1978, 41 condemned inmates have died of natural causes, 15 committed suicide, 13 were executed in California, one was executed in Missouri and five died of other causes, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
There are now 677 inmates on California’s death row, said Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the CDCR.
Bridges was convicted in the 1988 slaying of William Seiler, a lawyer in Orange County. Authorities said Bridges forced Seiler to drive to a remote area, tied his hands together, executed him with two gunshots to the head, and stole his car and wallet. The next day, Bridges was detained on suspicion of public intoxication in Orange, and police found Seiler’s car about two blocks away.
