A convicted child rapist from Newark was beaten to death by his prison cellmate – who is already serving a life sentence for first-degree murder, authorities allege.
Philip Langell, 69, was found dead in his cell at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna on May 10.
“Langell sustained injuries to head, face and neck area, consistent with multiple strikes from a closed fist,” according to Cpl. Jason Hatchell, a spokesman for Delaware State Police.
The medical examiner ruled that Langell died from the injuries to his head and neck, as well as asphyxiation, Hatchell said. Langell was also stabbed, but the stab wound was not a contributing factor in his death.
Langell was serving a 20-year sentence for the first-degree rape of a 4-year-old girl. He was arrested in 2013 for a crime that happened in Brookside a decade earlier.
Police charged Langell’s cellmate, 55-year-old John Cameron, with first-degree murder in Langell’s death.
Authorities did not release a motive for the attack.
Cameron was sentenced to life in prison in 2008 for fatally stabbing a convenience store clerk during a robbery in Claymont. The killing was part of a two-day crime spree in which he also robbed a woman, stole two vehicles and tried to set a relative’s car on fire.
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