By Theresa Armstrong

Reporter

tdunn@gcnewsgazette.com

A Tennessee man was found dead in the bathroom of the Grayson County Detention Center on Thursday morning.

According to a report from the detention center, a federal inmate that was being housed for the United States Marshal Service appears to have hung himself in the restroom of the jail.

At approximately 7:45 a.m., an inmate at the center notified deputies that he had discovered the body of Tomie Eugene Payne, age 61, of Columbia, Tennessee, in the bathroom of cell 312 in the main facility on Shaw’s Station Road.

Jail officials entered the shower area of the restroom and found Payne hanging by the neck from a string connected to an air vent, reported Kentucky State Trooper Davy Norris.

Payne, who was positioned between two sinks in the restroom, on his knees with his feet crossed and arms at his side was unresponsive when deputies tried to resuscitate him.

The Grayson County Emergency Management Service was notified at 7:52 a.m. and an ambulance was dispatched to the detention center.

Attempts by deputies to revive Payne were unsuccessful at which time the Grayson County Coroner Joe Brad Hudson and Trooper Norris were notified.

“I was called at 8:10 a.m. on a possible hanging at the detention center,” said Hudson. “When I arrived everything looked to be normal. The cause of death was traumatic asphyxiation with a hanging and no foul play was detected.”

“The federal marshal’s contacted the next of kin and they had no trouble finding them,” said Hudson. “His wife is currently incarcerated at the Warren County Jail.”

Officials would not release the reason the inmate was being lodged in the detention center.

The investigation of the incident remains on going with an autopsy and drug toxicology being performed.

“This investigation has revealed no negligence on the part of the detention center,” reported Norris.