Jefferson City Correctional Center death involved assault, sheriff’s office says

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

An inmate's death Friday at Jefferson City Correctional Center involved an assault, the Cole County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday.

The Department of Corrections told ABC 17 News this week that the sheriff's office and the corrections department were investigating the death of Lewis Younce, 49. Younce was serving a 26-year sentence for Johnson County charges including first-degree domestic assault, unlawful use of a weapon, second-degree domestic assault and two counts of misdemeanor third-degree domestic assault.

He was received by the DOC on April 9, 2024.

"Initial results of the investigation showed that some type of assault did occur with another inmate," the sheriff's office wrote in a news release. "However, until we get the results of the autopsy, the cause of death is unknown."

No charges referencing Younce's death are publicly available in online court records.