Two San Quentin Death Row Inmates Found Dead of Apparent Suicides

Two death row inmates at California’s San Quentin State Prison died of apparent suicides within hours of each other, the Associated Press reports. Andrew Urdiales, 54, was found unresponsive in his cell late Friday and was pronounced dead early Saturday, officials said. Virendra Govin, 51, was reportedly found unresponsive in a different death row housing unit late Sunday and was pronounced dead shortly after. Officials said both deaths are being investigated as suicides, and stated there is no indication that they are related. Urdiales was in prison for killing five women while he was stationed at different U.S. Marine Corps facilities in California during the ’80s and ’90s. Urdiales was also reportedly convicted of killing three other women in Illinois, but had his death row sentence commuted in 2011 when the state outlawed capital punishment. Govin was reportedly convicted in 2004 for killing four in Los Angeles and setting the victims’ family home on fire. According to the AP, California has 740 offenders on its death row—but the state has not executed anyone since 2006, and “inmates are far more likely to die from suicide or old age” than from being executed.