The sudden death of inmate Jonathan Henoche, 33, at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary (HMP) in St. John’s Nov. 6 has been determined a homicide by the province’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, it was announced Wednesday.
The matter is now being investigated by the RNC’s Major Crime Unit.
Shortly after noon on Nov. 6, members of the RNC responded to a report of the sudden death of Henoche.
Sources told The Telegram at the time that Henoche was found dead in a segregation unit cell at the penitentiary not long after an intense altercation with corrections officers.
Henoche was in prison awaiting trial on a charge of first-degree murder in the July 2018 death of 88-year-old Regula Schule of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, who was originally from Switzerland. He was also charged with robbery, break and entry, arson with disregard for human life and arson with property damage.
Henoche’s trial had been set for June 2020 at Newfoundland Supreme Court in St. John's.
A statement from the RNC Wednesday noted that in order to protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation, no further comment will be made at this time.
