DOVER, Del.- Authorities say a Delaware prison inmate serving a 30-year sentence for child rape has killed himself.
Department of Correction officials announced Monday that 35-year-old Bryson T. Strickland of Dover, who was housed in the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna, was pronounced dead shortly after 6:40 p.m. Friday.
Prison officials said foul play was not suspected in Strickland's death but refused to provide any other details.
A spokeswoman for the state Division of Forensic Science said the case was ruled a suicide.
Strickland was serving a 30-year sentence after being convicted of two counts of first-degree rape by a person of trust involving a victim younger than 16 years old.
He was arrested in March 2007 after a 14-year-old girl reported to her mother that Strickland raped her numerous times over a six-month period in a Dover home. The girl's mother then contacted police.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
