DEL NORTE — The El Paso County Coroner’s office confirmed that the June 20th death in the Rio Grande County Jail of inmate Howard Victor White, 56, of Del Norte, was by hanging.

The report added, “Investigation and autopsy findings are consistent with this being deliberate and self inflicted.”

The coroner labeled the manner of death as suicide.

White had been alone in his jail cell before being found partially suspended by a bed sheet wrapped around his neck and secured by a knot over the top of a closed door, the coroner related in the findings.

White was being held in the Rio Grande County Jail on sexual assault charges involving an 8-year-old victim. He was one of four people arrested this spring in connection with the case. White had been in custody since March 16 and was scheduled for a first appearance in court on June 21. He hanged himself on June 20.