Death row inmate who killed 'talkative' cellmate found dead at state prison

A death row inmate serving sentences for two separate murders was found dead at the Tecumseh state prison in Nebraska, USA on Monday.

The inmate, identified as Patrick Schroeder, was first sentenced to life in 2006 for the first-degree murder of a farmer from Pawnee City. He was serving a life sentence when he killed his cellmate, Terry Berry, in 2017. Schroeder admitted to killing Berry by strangulation because he "was took talkative."

He strangled Berry first with his hands and then with a towel. He then asked a prison guard about where he should report an unresponsive inmate. When the guard asked if he had strangled his cellmate, he said: "Yeah, he wouldn't shut up." Berry succumbed to his injuries four days later at a hospital.

"Honestly, I knew as soon as they moved him in my room on April 10 that it was probably going to end up in that situation," he had said in a 2018 interview with Nebraska Public Media.

"I'm doing a life sentence, I'm never getting out, and he's in here for writing some checks. There was no compatibility at all," he added.

In a videotaped confession, Schroeder had described Berry as a "punk" and a "loudmouth." He said that he "would not clean up after himself" and that the last straw was when he would not stop talking during the Ultimate Fighting Championship bout on television.

Schroeder had even advocated that he should receive the death penalty for Berry's murder, according to a report in the Mercury News.

The state had to pay $479,000 to Berry's family to settle a lawsuit that alleged the state was responsible for his death. Berry was only 22 years old at the time of his death and was nearing parole after being convicted of forgery.

Schroeder was one of 12 men on death row in Nebraska. Since 2006, four other death row inmates have died of natural causes. The cause of Schroeder's death remains unclear. A grand jury will be investigating his death, as is the case when an inmate dies in state custody.