The Lancaster County Grand Jury heard evidence on ten in-custody death cases. Nebraska law requires a grand jury investigation upon certification that a person died while being apprehended or while in custody or law enforcement or detention personnel.
The cases involved inmates of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. The manner of death in eight cases was found to be natural and the Grand Jury returned a no-true bill, indicating no criminal wrongdoing. The remaining two cases involved Bao Nguyen, in which the cause of death was found to be accidental due to methamphetamine toxicity. The case of Jackson Hedrick was found to be suicide due to hanging. A no-true bill and finding of no criminal wrongdoing was also returned in each of those cases.
The Nebraska State Patrol investigated the cases. A three officer panel of trained homicide investigators from the Lincoln Police Department and Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office also examined the evidence in the cases involving Bao Nguyen and Hedrick due to the manner of death being other than natural causes.