Report: Murder suspect covered camera before suicide

An immigrant suspected of killing five people, including one in Montgomery County, covered the surveillance camera in his jail cell before hanging himself, an investigative report released over the weekend says.

Corrections officers at the St. Louis Justice Center found Pablo Serrano-Vitorino hanging by a bedsheet in his cell early April 9, and efforts to revive him were unsuccessful, according to the report. He was pronounced dead at a St. Louis hospital.

“Air dried wet toilet paper had been placed all over the camera, coving the (camera) lens,” according to a St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department report. “The toilet paper was hard and appeared to have been on the camera for a considerable amount of time.”

The corrections officer on duty the night of Serrano-Vitorino’s death told investigators that Serrano-Vitorino was alive when he checked the cell on before going on break that night. By the time another check was made nearly three hours later, Serrano-Vitorino had hanged himself, according to the report.

Investigators found a handrwritten note in the cell in which Serrano-Vitorino thanked a person named “Heather” — believed to be Serrano-Vitorino’s public defender — for help with his case. The note also asks “Heather” to give drawings found in the cell to someone named “Camila” and two other people, investigators wrote.

Serrano-Vitorino had been alone in the cell and the cell door had been locked, investigators wrote.

Serrano-Vitorino was accused of killing Randy Nordman on March 8, 2016 at Nordman’s Montgomery County home. Serrano-Vitorino was on the run at the time for allegedly killing four people in Kansas. Nordman’s death started a massive manhunt in Montgomery County and authorities captured Serrano-Vitorino nearly 24 hours later.

Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty in the case.

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