Blount dies in federal prison

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A Mississippi man convicted in the death of a Dutch cyclist has died in a federal prison hospital in North Carolina.

Chris Burke, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Prison, says Wendell G. Blount died Wednesday in the prison hospital in Butner, N.C. Burke says it appears Blount died of natural causes but an autopsy is pending.

Blount’s death was first reported by WTVA-TV in Tupelo (https://bit.ly/1faIInR )

Federal prosecutors say Blount was high on morphine when his vehicle struck and killed Esther Hageman, of Leiden, Netherlands, on the Natchez Trace Parkway. Hageman was a journalist for one of the Netherlands’ major newspapers, Trouw.

Blount was convicted of manslaughter in 2010. He was serving a 10-year sentence at the time of his death.

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Information from: WTVA-TV, https://www.wtva.com